African American and Latino Youth and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) is found more frequently in inner-city African American and Latino youth than in European American youth. Previous research on PTSD and its relationship with inner-city violence, minority youth, school violence and institutionalized oppression is examined. School counselor's roles and possible interventions are discussed and an interdisciplinary collaborative model for helping students with PTSD is introduced.     

The labor of surveillance and bureaucratized killing: new subjectivities of military drone operators

As the military's armed surveillance drones have become the iconic weapon of the early twenty-first century, they have also introduced radical transformations in the traditional labor of those who operate them – the pilots, crew, analysts, and commanders. In so doing, these transformations have engendered new kinds of subjectivity, with new ways of experiencing the work of surveillance and killing. This paper investigates the nature of these new subjectivities, how they are constructed through new technologies that combine surveillance with remote agency, the bureaucratization of killing, and the psychological implications for operators. It examines how scientific management strategies from Taylorism to business process re-engineering have contributed to reconstituting the subjectivity of drone pilots and sensor operators through decomposing their labor practices and reconstituting them within professionalized careers and technological systems of supervision and management. It also looks at how the decisions to use lethal force are themselves decomposed and distributed among individuals designated as responsible agents within the chain-of-command. In light of the creation of these new subjectivities, the paper examines the psychological stress experienced by those who occupy these new subject positions through an examination of several recent military studies, journalistic accounts, and a recent short film based upon an interview with a drone pilot, Omer Fast's 5,000 Feet is the Best (2011).     

Correlates of Joining a Sexual Harassment Class Action

Researchers have proposed a variety of factors that influence the decision to seek legal relief in response to sexual harassment, but have generally failed to test these proposals empirically. The present study aims to address this gap by investigating the decision to join a class-action lawsuit. Participants were female professionals at a nationally based financial services firm, who either participated in or opted out of a sexual harassment class-action proceeding against the company. Five variables emerged as significant correlates of joining the class: organizational climate, turnover, financial dependence, PTSD, and primary appraisal. Dominance analysis identified contextual factors as the most important correlate. Theoretical and practical implications for the role of these factors in joining a class action are discussed.

PTSD及其法医学相关问题

随着国外对PTSD(posttraumatic stress disorder)的深入研究以及中国心理卫生事业与法医学事业的发展,相关领域的学者开始从事这一方面的研究并取得了不少成就。本文结合国内外的一些理论研究与实践成果,对PTSD的概念、诊断与鉴别以及相关法医学问题作一综述和探讨。     

Symptom Patterns among Youth Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Children and adolescents exposed to intimate partner violence display a broad range of symptoms. We sought to differentiate symptom patterns and predictors of these patterns using a person-oriented approach. Previous cluster analysis research of exposed youth was extended to include youth PTSD symptoms and trauma history. Participants were 74 mothers who had received a police call for domestic violence, and who had a child between 2 and 17 years old. Cluster analysis was used to identify four symptom patterns among exposed youth: Typical, Asymptomatic, General Distress, and Acute PTSD. These patterns were replicated in separate cluster analyses with younger and older participants. Symptom patterns were differentiated by maternal distress, maternal aggression, and youth trauma history, but not by male partner aggression. Implications for assessment and treatment of youth exposed to intimate partner violence, and suggestions for further research, are discussed.     

Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation as PTSD Mitigators in Child Sexual Abuse Survivors

Purpose and Potential benefits: Research, to our knowledge, has not examined the effect of demographic variables on PTSD symptoms among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). This study explores the relationship between demographic variables and scores of CSA survivors on the Impact of Scale (IES). Participants were 257 women CSA survivors entering outpatient treatment at a university-based mental health center. All participants reported a CSA history and presented with psychological difficulties associated with CSA. The demographic variables investigated were relationship status, religious affiliation, ethnicity, educational level, spousal educational level income, and sexual orientation. Significance tests were used to examine each variable and scores on the Total IES and Avoidance and Intrusion Subscales. Total IES and Intrusion scores differed for sexual orientation and ethnicity in accord with conventional standards of significance ( < .05). Self-reported asexuals indicated fewer intrusive and total PTSD symptoms than heterosexuals, lesbians, and bisexuals. Likewise, Hispanics reported less intrusive PTSD symptoms than Non-Hispanic Caucasians. Our findings invite further exploration of the relationship between ethnicity and sexual orientation and the long-term effects of CSA. A question for empirical investigation is whether asexuality shields against the triggering of CSA memories by a sexual relationship. Another possible area of inquiry is whether particular characteristics of Hispanic culture as a whole serve to moderate the detrimental effects of CSA.     

PTSD and female military returnees from Iraq and Afghanistan： What does the evidence tell us？

In the United States of America, women make up almost 15% of active duty forces, while they form 11% of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the first time in history that women have been directly involved in torturing men, with sexual identity and gender being used as instruments of torture. This paper focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder （PTSD） and female veterans by reviewing the available literature. Studies examining the psychological and physical health of women veterans as well as women＇s working and living conditions in the army are presented. The paper highlights the psychological processes women marines go through to establish themselves in the male dominated army environment and the implications such processes may have on their perception of female identity and on their psychological well-being. Studies on deployment experiences in relation to the emergence of PTSD in female military personnel are presented. Finally, the effects of veterans＇ PTSD on their familial relationships and psychological adjustment of family members are also considered, stressing the lack of relevant research with female veterans. In this new historical reality and as these women are called on, upon their return home, to resume female care giver roles, to become the primary caregivers to children, the elderly and those who are ill, we conclude by highlighting the urgent need for further research into the emergence of PTSD in female military returnees from and on their families. Iraq and Afghanistan and the effects this may have on them and on their families.     

Prison reentry as a rite of passage for the formerly incarcerated

American prison systems may be shifting away from warehousing towards prisoner rehabilitation. California’s corrections policy, for example, has changed dramatically in response to a variety of pressures budgetary, operational and judicial. What might such changes mean for prisoner rehabilitation and the chances of formerly incarcerated persons leading meaningful, contributing lives? This is an exploratory essay on the possibility of a formerly incarcerated person finding himself through prison work. My primary concern is with understanding and utilizing current shifts in correctional philosophies and practices to create healing alternatives and a more inclusive justice, one with room for my own healing. I pursue this inquiry through the use of an autoethnographic approach to legal storytelling.