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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of long-term violent victimization from late adolescence to the mid-30s on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid psychiatric disorders in adulthood among urban African Americans and Puerto Ricans.
METHOD: Data were collected from a large urban community sample (N = 674) at 4 time points associated with mean ages of 19, 24, 29, and 36 years. Trajectories of violent victimization were extracted using growth mixture modeling and used to predict psychiatric disorders and comorbidities in adulthood.
RESULTS: The sample was 52.8% African American and 47.2% Puerto Rican, with 60% females. Three trajectory groups of violent victimization were identified: high, intermediate, and low. Over half of the sample reported relatively high- and intermediate-level violent victimization experiences from adolescence to adulthood. Group comparisons showed that participants belonging to the relatively high-victimization group had greater odds of having PTSD, major depressive episode (MDE), and substance use disorder (SUD) separately, as well as comorbid PTSD-SUD and PTSD-MDE, compared with those classified as having relatively low levels of victimization. Having intermediate-level victimization experiences, compared with low-level victimization experiences, over time was associated with higher odds of PTSD and MDE separately and comorbid PTSD-MDE.
CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to relatively high levels of violent victimization during emerging and young adulthood is associated with PTSD and comorbid psychiatric disorders in the 30s. Social, structural, and interpersonal factors underlying the differential patterns of violent victimization in urban African American and LatinX youth need to be identified to adequately inform prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Language: en |