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War‐related posttraumatic stress disorder in Black, Hispanic, and majority White Vietnam veterans: The roles of exposure and vulnerability
Author(s) -
Dohrenwend Bruce P.,
Turner J. Blake,
Turse Nicholas A.,
LewisFernandez Roberto,
Yager Thomas J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20327
Subject(s) - vietnam war , posttraumatic stress , incidence (geometry) , vulnerability (computing) , demography , medicine , psychiatry , clinical psychology , geography , archaeology , physics , computer security , sociology , computer science , optics
Elevated prevalence rates of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been reported for Black and Hispanic Vietnam veterans. There has been no comprehensive explanation of these group differences. Moreover, previous research has relied on retrospective reports of war‐zone stress and on PTSD assessments that fail to distinguish between prevalence and incidence. These limitations are addressed by use of record‐based exposure measures and clinical diagnoses of a subsample of veterans from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). Compared with Majority White, the Black elevation is explained by Blacks' greater exposure; the Hispanic elevation, by Hispanics' greater exposure, younger age, lesser education, and lower Armed Forces Qualification Test scores. The PTSD elevation in Hispanics versus Blacks is accounted for mainly by Hispanics' younger age.