A Longitudinal Study of Demographic Factors Associated With Stressors and Symptoms in African Refugees

• Published in: American journal of orthopsychiatry 2013-10, Vol.83 (4), p.472-482
• Main Authors: Perera, Sulani, Gavian, Margaret, Frazier, Patricia, Johnson, David, Spring, Marline, Westermeyer, Joseph, Butcher, James, Halcon, Linda, Robertson, Cheryl, Savik, Kay, Jaranson, James
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acculturative stress; Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Africa; African Cultural Groups; Aged; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; asylum seekers; Biological and medical sciences; Black or African American; Black People - ethnology; Black People - psychology; Demographic Characteristics; Demographics; Emigration and Immigration; Ethnicity; Exposure; Female; Females; gender‐based violence; Human; Human Migration; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Males; Medical sciences; Mental health; Mental stress; Middle Aged; Oromo; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; premigration stress; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Qualitative analysis; Quantitative Methods; Refugees; Refugees - psychology; Regression analysis; resettlement stress; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Sociodemographic Factors; Somalia; Stress; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - ethnology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Stress, Psychological - diagnosis; Stress, Psychological - ethnology; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Symptoms; torture; transit stress; U.S.A; United States; Victimology; war violence; Warfare; witnessed violence
• ISSN: 0002-9432; 1939-0025; 1939-0025
• DOI: 10.1111/ajop.12047

The objectives of this study were to assess differences in premigration, transit, and resettlement stressor exposure and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as a function of demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, ethnicity, age, time in United States) and to examine the concurrent and longitudinal relations between stressor exposure and PTSD symptoms. The sample consisted of adult (18-78 years) Somali and Oromo refugee men and women (N = 437). Qualitative data regarding participants' self-nominated worst stressors collected at Time 2 (T2) informed the development of quantitative scales assessing premigration, transit, and resettlement stress created using items collected at Time 1 (T1). PTSD symptoms were measured at both T1 and T2. Quantitative analyses showed that levels of stressor exposure and PTSD symptoms differed as a function of refugee demographic characteristics. For example, Oromo, more recent, women, and older refugees reported more premigration and resettlement stressors. Oromo refugees and refugee men reported more PTSD symptoms in regression analyses with other factors controlled. Premigration, transit, and resettlement stressor exposure generally was associated with higher PTSD symptom levels. Results underscore the importance of assessing stress exposure comprehensively throughout the refugee experience and caution against overgeneralizing between and within refugee groups.