Higher Levels Of Trauma Symptoms Research Articles

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Trauma-Oriented Approach to Treating Prostituted Women in a Prison and a Community Exiting Program

Women who have been prostitutes are social work clients in many clinical, correctional, and community settings. Unique programming that addresses the high levels of trauma symptoms reported by prostituted women has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of a group trauma and abuse intervention for prostituted women from two settings, prison and a community exiting program. A quasi-experimental research design was used. Twenty-nine women participated in a 12-week psychoeducational trauma and abuse intervention program called Esuba. All participants reported decreases in trauma symptoms, but the prison group showed a greater number of significant changes in trauma symptomology than the community group. Implications for practice and future research implications are discussed.

Relationships of Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, and Trauma Symptoms to Delinquency

Previous research has found that delinquency is related to higher levels of trauma symptoms and poorer ethnic identity. The present study used a California Bay Area school-based sample of 307 adolescents to examine whether the relationship of trauma symptoms to delinquency is buffered by higher ethnic identity and whether this buffering effect is relatively more important for ethnic minorities than it is for Caucasians. In a hierarchical regression analysis, trauma symptoms, ethnicity, and ethnic identity statistically interacted to predict delinquency, such that greater levels of ethnic identity were related to less delinquency in the face of increasing levels of trauma symptoms; this effect was especially important for ethnic minorities relative to Caucasians. Findings of the current study suggest that ethnic identity may be an important resource among diverse ethnic groups.

Differences in Self-Reported Trauma Symptomatology Between Individuals With and Without Disability

In this study, the authors examined whether individuals with disabilities report higher levels of trauma symptoms than their nondisabled counterparts. Based on trauma theory and prior research regarding the incidence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder, the authors hypothesized that individuals with disabilities would report higher levels of trauma symptoms. Results partially supported the hypothesis, with women with disabilities reporting significantly higher levels of recalled trauma symptomatology when compared with men with disabilities and with men and women without disabilities. Men with disabilities did not report significantly higher levels of trauma symptoms when compared with men and women without disabilities. Effect sizes and confidence intervals were also computed for each analysis.

Trauma Symptoms: Relationship With Career Thoughts, Vocational Identity, and Developmental Work Personality

Knowledge of traumatic events and how trauma symptoms relate to social and psychological well‐being continues to grow. One aspect of an individual's functioning that may be affected by exposure to traumatic events is the ability of the individual to engage in career‐ and work‐related activities (D. H. Coursol, J. Lewis, & L. Garrity, 2001). The current study examines the relationship between trauma symptoms and the career development process of 131 college students. Results indicate a significant relationship between higher levels of trauma symptoms and higher levels of dysfunctional career thoughts and lower levels of work personality. Implications for career counselors are discussed.

Identifying and Responding to the Mental Health Service Needs of Children Who Have Experienced Violence: A Community-Based Approach

Children’s exposure to violence, their psychological response to the violence, and their participation in a community-based intervention service were described. This article describes the provision of mental health services and the process evaluation for the initial phase of the program (1999-2000). A large number ( N = 1739) children were referred to the program over a 17.5-month period for mental health intervention immediately after witnessing and experiencing a range of violent acts, the majority of which ( N = 1355) involved domestic violence. A majority of referred children and adolescents ( N = 946) directly witnessed such violence, and the majority of those who were old enough to provide self-report indicated that they perceived the event as a direct threat to their safety. Many of these children and adolescents also reported high levels of trauma symptoms. The majority of children ( N = 1117) who were referred to the program participated. The findings underscore the feasibility of developing mental health services to meet the needs of children who are exposed to violence, especially family violence, at a critical time following violence exposure.

Traumatic origins of intimate rage

I posit that a triad of childhood events found retrospectively in populations of batterers constitutes a powerful trauma source and that many aspects of the personality structure and function of intimately abusive men are best understood from a trauma- response framework. The trauma stressors include witnessing violence directed toward the self or the mother, shaming, and insecure attachment (cf. Dutton 1995a, 1995b, 1995c, 1995d). Bowlby (1973) considered insecure attachment itself both a source and consequence of trauma. Since the infant turns to the attachment-object during periods of distress seeking soothing, a failure to obtain soothing maintains high arousal and endocrine secretion. Van der Kolk (1987) considered child abuse an “overwhelming life experience” and reviewed the defenses that children use to deal with parental abuse: hypervigilance, projection, splitting, and denial. Terr (1979) also described driven, compulsive repetitions, and reenactments that permeate dreams, play, fantasies, and object relations of traumatized children. Shaming, conceptualized as verbal or behavioral attacks on the global self, has been found to generate life long shame-proneness or defenses involving rage. A combination of all three early experiences is traumatizing, and evidence exists in adult batterers both for the presence of trauma symptoms and the childhood experiences described above. Conceptualizing the affective, cognitive, and behavioral features of intimate abusiveness from a trauma perspective has many advantages over social learning models. A basis for the internally driven and cyclical aspect of the behavior becomes clearer as does the problems with modulation of arousal, anger, and the high levels of trauma symptoms found in populations of abuse perpetrators. The narrow social learning definition of aggression as a reaction to an appraisal of controllable threat is broadened to include reactions to trauma: uncontrollable-unbluntable-inescapable aversive stimuli.

Coping With Rape

One-hundred-nineteen undergraduate females participated in a study examining the roles of child sexual assault, attributions, and coping on adjustment to rape. Participants completed anonymous questionnaires that assessed for child sexual abuse history, adult victimization history, attributions of blame for the adult assault, coping strategies for the adult rape, and trauma symptoms. Rape victims with a history of child sexual abuse were found to have higher levels of trauma symptoms, made greater use of nervous and cognitive coping strategies, and were more likely to make attributions of blame towards themselves or society. Current symptoms were related to types of coping and attributions of blame, with history of child sexual abuse having an indirect relationship to these variables. The results suggest the importance of attributional and coping variables, as well as child sexual abuse history, as mediators of postrape adjustment.

Viewing Preferences, Symptoms of Psychological Trauma, and Violent Behaviors Among Children Who Watch Television

To examine the extent to which children's television-viewing practices are associated with symptoms of psychological trauma and aggressive behaviors. The following three hypotheses were tested: (1) children who report watching greater amounts of television per day will report higher levels of trauma symptoms than children who report lesser amounts of television viewing; (2) children who report watching greater amounts of television per day will report higher levels of violent behaviors than children who report watching lesser amounts of television per day; and (3) children who report a preference for action and fighting programs will report higher levels of violent behaviors than children who report a preference for other types of television programs. The study used a survey design in which an anonymous self-report questionnaire was administered to students in grades 3 through 8 in 11 Ohio public schools during the 1995-1996 school year (N = 2,245). All three hypotheses were supported. Heavy television viewing by children may indicate the presence of problems such as depression, anxiety, and violent behaviors; such viewing should be screened for by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals working with children.