Ethnic Disparities in Incidence of PTSD and Suicide among Combat Veterans

April 01, 2009
Ethnic Disparities in Incidence of PTSD and Suicide among Combat Veterans
by Lily Casura
The topic of "culture, race, ethnicity and PTSD" is a complicated subject, with great potential to offend, so it has to be covered delicately, and slowly, over time.
There is a concern that ethnic minorities or non-white populations experience PTSD at greater rates than whites, but this concept is not without its detractors, who frankly disagree.
It would be interesting to learn more about this phenomenon, and learn if the data really supports it, or if it's just an assumption. If it turns out to be true, then it might be useful to map it against the prevalence of ethnic minorities who serve in the armed forces, in order to guesstimate more accurately future numbers of veterans who are likely to be affected by PTSD, and predict the resources that will be needed for their effective care in their home communities. On the one hand, you would hope that these estimates were already being made; on the other hand, it doesn't seem that they are. Consequently, in this post we're unfortunately raising more questions than answers.
To narrow the focus here enough for discussion, let's take a look at just one ethnicity among many from which we could choose -- one that's on the rise in the United States (and in the U.S. military) -- Hispanics (aka Latinos). Observe how cultural issues may come into play with their incidence of PTSD, as the study indicates. (The same questions that are raised here could apply, in turn, to other ethnic minorities, and ideally, all should be studied.)
Re: Hispanics/Latinos:
"Several studies have found that Hispanic Americans have higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than non-Hispanic Caucasian and Black Americans. The authors identified predictors of PTSD symptom severity that distinguished Hispanic police officers (n=189) from their non-Hispanic Caucasian (n=317) and Black (n=162) counterparts and modeled them to explain the elevated Hispanic risk for PTSD. The authors found that greater peri-traumatic dissociation, greater wishful thinking and self-blame coping, lower social support, and greater perceived racism were important variables in explaining the elevated PTSD symptoms among Hispanics. Results are discussed in the context of Hispanic culture and may be important for prevention of mental illness in the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States." (Source.)
Hispanics/Latinos in the military. Do figures exist for how many Hispanics/Latinos are currently serving in the military; and/or are veterans of the Vietnam war, the Gulf war, the Iraq war, or Afghanistan? Are more Hispanics/Latinos joining the military?
I've seen a copy of a report that the state of Massachusetts has for number of veterans by zip code across the state. Not surprisingly, a quick glance through that report impresses the casual reader that numbers of veterans are highest in poorer communities than wealthier communities. (You'd have to know Massachusetts for the examples to make sense, but say, the difference between Brockton or Fall River, MA and Wellesley or Osterville, MA.) A similar trend may also exist for communities with higher concentrations of ethnic minorities.
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