A Racial Comparison of Combat Veterans Evaluated for PTSD

Abstract

This study attempted to replicate the work of Frueh, Smith, and Libet (1996), which showed racial differences on psychological measures of dissociation/thought disturbance and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) F-K index in combat veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD, a fixed-response format version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-FRF), and MMPI-2 prior to treatment at a Veterans Affairs hospital outpatient PTSD clinic. Contrary to expectation, significant racial differences on the DES-FRF, MMPI-2 validity scales, and MMPI-2 Scales 6 and 8 were not found. Consistent with the previous study, no racial differences on measures of anxiety, depression, or PTSD symptomatology were found; nor were there racial differences on clinician ratings of global assessment of functioning or on most categories of psychiatric diagnoses. This suggests that Black and White combat veterans evaluated for PTSD do not differ with regard to reported manifestation or severity of psychopathology.