Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The theory of shattered assumptions proposes that experiencing traumatic events can change how people view themselves and the world. Most adults experience a traumatic event during their lifetime, and some subsequently develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the current conceptualization of trauma (i.e., Criterion A PTSD) may be too narrow to adequately capture the range of potentially traumatizing events that People of Color experience, including racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage. This study investigated the association of racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with core beliefs about the world being safe and predictable (i.e., world assumptions) among a sample of Black, Latine, and Asian young adults. Multi-step analyses of covariance tested associations between racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with world assumptions and whether these held in the context of other traumatic exposures. Results indicated that racial discrimination negatively impacted world assumptions among Asian young adults only and this effect remained in the context of trauma. In addition, low neighborhood support negatively impacted world assumptions across all racial groups and neighborhood violence negatively impacted world assumptions among Latine young adults only; however, this effect did not remain in the context of trauma. This study indicates it is worthwhile to consider other adverse events in the conceptualization of trauma, such as racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage, that may impact world assumptions and contribute to subsequent post-trauma psychopathology.

Keywords

community violence cultural contexts hate crimes mental health and violence ethnicity PTSD

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. In B. B

Frey

(Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of educational research, measurement, and evaluation (5th ed.). SAGE.

Anders

S. L.

Frazier

P. A.

Shallcross

S. L.

(2014). Changes in functioning following potentially traumatic life events in college students. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 6(Suppl 1), S99–S106. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033835

Andrews

A. R.

López

C. M.

Snyder

Saunders

Kilpatrick

D. G.

(2019). Polyvictimization, related symptoms, and familial and neighborhood contexts as longitudinal mediators of racial/ethnic disparities in violence exposure across adolescence. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 21(4), 679–692. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0842-2

Ben

Paradies

Priest

Parker

E. J.

Roberts-Thomson

K. F.

Lawrence

H. P.

Jamieson

L. M.

(2014). Self-reported racism and experience of toothache among pregnant A boriginal A ustralians: the role of perceived stress, sense of control, and social support. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 74(4), 301–309. doi:10.1111/jphd.12059

Benner

A. D.

Kim

S. Y.

(2009). Experiences of discrimination among Chinese American adolescents and the consequences for socioemotional and academic development. Developmental Psychology, 45(6), 1682. https://doi.org/10.1037/A0016119

Bird

C. M.

Webb

E. K.

Schramm

A. T.

Torres

Larson

deRoon-Cassini

T. A.

(2021). Racial discrimination is associated with acute posttraumatic stress symptoms and predicts future posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity in trauma-exposed black adults in the United States. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34(5), 995–1004. https://doi.org/10.1002/JTS.22670

Bruggen

ten Klooster

P. M.

der Aa

Smith

A. J. M.

Westerhof

G. J.

Glas

(2018). Structural validity of the World Assumption Scale. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 31(6), 816–825. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22348

Cardemil

E. V

Millán

Old

Aranda

W. E.

(2019). A new, more inclusive name: The Journal of Latinx Psychology. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 7(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000129

Carter

R. T.

Johnson

V. E.

Kirkinis

Roberson

Muchow

Galgay

Kirkinis Katherine

(2019). A meta-analytic review of racial discrimination: Relationships to health and culture. Race and Social Problems, 11(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-018-9256-y

10.

Carter

R. T.

Kirkinis

Johnson

V. E.

(2019). Relationships between trauma symptoms and race-based traumatic stress. Traumatology, 26(1), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000217

11.

Cheng

H. L.

Mallinckrodt

(2015). Racial/ethnic discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and alcohol problems in a longitudinal study of hispanic/latino college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(1), 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000052

12.

Dale

S. K.

Safren

S. A.

(2019). Gendered racial microaggressions predict post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and cognitions among black women living with HIV. Psychological Trauma : Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 11(7), 685. https://doi.org/10.1037/TRA0000467

13.

Edmondson

Chaudoir

S. R.

Mills

M. A.

Park

C. L.

Holub

Bartkowiak

J. M.

(2011). From shattered assumptions to weakened worldviews: Trauma symptoms signal anxiety buffer disruption. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 16(4), 358–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2011.572030

14.

Flores

Tschann

J. M.

Dimas Oakland

J. M.

Lauri Pasch

C. A.

de Groat

C. L.

(2010). Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and health risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(3), 264–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020026

15.

Gray

M. J.

Litz

B. T.

Hsu

J. L.

Lombardo

T. W.

(2004). Psychometric properties of the life events checklist veterans healthcare system. Assessment, 11(4), 330–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191104269954

16.

Holm

(1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian journal of statistics, 65–70.

17.

Holmes

S. C.

Facemire

V. C.

Dafonseca

A. M.

(2016). Expanding criterion a for posttraumatic stress disorder: Considering the deleterious impact of oppression. Traumatology, 22(4), 314–321. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000104

18.

Jackson

J. S.

Torres

Caldwell

C. H.

Neighbors

H. W.

Nesse

R. M.

Taylor

R. J.

Trierweiler

S. J.

Williams

D. R.

(2004). The National Survey of American Life: A study of racial, ethnic and cultural influences on mental disorders and mental health. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13(4), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/MPR.177

19.

Janoff-Bulman

(1985). The aftermath of victimization: Rebuilding shattered assumptions. In Figley

C. R.

(Ed.), Trauma and its Wake (Vol. 1, pp. 15–35). Routledge.

20.

Janoff-Bulman

(1989). Assumptive worlds and the stress of traumatic events: Applications of the schema construct. Social Cognition, 7(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.1989.7.2.113

21.

Kaler

M. E.

(2009). The world assumptions questionnaire: Development of a measure of the assumptive world [University of Minnesota]. https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/55049/Kaler_umn_0130E_10613.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

22.

Kirkinis

Pieterse

A. L.

Agiliga

Brownell

(2018). Racism, racial discrimination, and trauma: a systematic review of the social science literature. Ethnicity and Health, 26(3), 392–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2018.1514453

23.

Lee

S. J.

(1996). Unraveling the “model minority” stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth. Teachers College Press.

24.

Liang

C. T.

Borders

(2012). Beliefs in an unjust world mediate the associations between perceived ethnic discrimination and psychological functioning. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(4), 528–533.

25.

Liang

C. T.

Molenaar

C. M.

(2016). Beliefs in an unjust world: Mediating ethnicity-related stressors and psychological functioning. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 72(6), 552–562.

26.

Lilly

M. M.

Howell

K. H.

Graham-Bermann

(2015). World assumptions, religiosity, and PTSD in survivors of intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 21(1), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801214564139

27.

Loo

C. M.

Fairbank

J. A.

Scurfield

R. M.

Ruch

L. O.

King

D. W.

Adams

L. J.

Chemtob

C. M.

(2001). Measuring exposure to racism: Development and validation of a Race-Related Stressor Scale (RRSS) for Asian American Vietnam veterans. Psychological Assessment, 13(4), 503–520. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.13.4.503

28.

Macedo

D. M.

Smithers

L. G.

Roberts

R. M.

Jamieson

L. M.

(2019). Racism, stress, and sense of personal control among aboriginal australian pregnant women. Australian Psychologist, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12435

29.

Moradi

Hasan

N. T.

(2004). Arab American persons’ reported experiences of discrimination and mental health: The mediating role of personal control. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(4), 418–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.51.4.418

30.

Moradi

Risco

(2006). Perceived discrimination experiences and mental health of Latina/o american persons. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(4), 411–421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.4.411

31.

Peterson

L. M.

Stock

M. L.

Monroe

Molloy-Paolillo

B. K.

Lambert

S. F.

(2020). Racial exclusion causes acute cortisol release among emerging-adult African Americans: The role of reduced perceived control. The Journal of Social Psychology, 160(5), 658–674. http://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2020.1729685

32.

Pieterse

A. L.

Carter

R. T.

Evans

S. A.

Walter

R. A.

(2010). An exploratory examination of the associations among racial and ethnic discrimination, racial climate, and trauma-related symptoms in a college student population. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(3), 255–263. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020040

33.

Riley

A. R.

(2018). Neighborhood disadvantage, residential segregation, and beyond—lessons for studying structural racism and health. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 5(2), 357–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0378-5

34.

Schaafsma

(2013). Through the lens of justice: Just world beliefs mediate relationships between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(4), 450–458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2013.04.002

35.

Schuler

E. R.

Boals

(2016). Shattering world assumptions: A prospective view of the impact of adverse events on world assumptions. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 8(3), 259–266. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000073

36.

Smith

N. D. L.

Cottler

L. B.

(2018). The epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 39(2), 113–120.

37.

Torres

Taknint

J. T.

(2015). Ethnic microaggressions, traumatic stress symptoms, and Latino depression: A moderated mediational model. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(3), 393–401.

38.

Watson

L. B.

DeBlaere

Langrehr

K. J.

Zelaya

D. G.

Flores

M. J.

(2016). The influence of multiple oppressions on women of color’s experiences with insidious trauma. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(6), 656–667. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000165

39.

Wei

Wang

K. T.

Heppner

P. P.

(2012). Ethnic and mainstream social connectedness, perceived racial discrimination, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59, 486–493. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028000

40.

Williams

D. R.

Lawrence

J. A.

Davis

B. A.

(2019). Racism and health: Evidence and needed research. Annual Review of Public Health, 40, 105–125. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750

41.

Williams

D. R.

Jackson

J. S.

(1997). Racial differences in physical and mental health socio-economic status, stress and discrimination. Journal of Health Psychology, 2(3), 335–351.

42.

Williams

M. T.

Metzger

I. W.

Leins

DeLapp

(2018). Assessing racial trauma within a DSM–5 framework: The UConn Racial/Ethnic Stress & Trauma Survey. Practice Innovations, 3(4), 242–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000076

43.

Williams

M. T.

Printz

D. M. B.

DeLapp

R. C. T.

(2018). Assessing racial trauma with the trauma symptoms of discrimination scale. Psychology of Violence, 8, 735–747. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000212

44.

Woerner

Overstreet

Amstadter

A. B.

Sartor

C. E.

(2020). Profiles of psychosocial adversity and their associations with health risk behaviors and mental health outcomes in young adults. Journal of Health Psychology, 25(12), 1882–1893. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318780504

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB

The Associations of Racial Discrimination and Neighborhood Disadvantage With World Assumptions Among Black,Latine,and Asian Young Adults

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material