TY  - JOUR
AB  - Populations in war-torn regions are exposed to a wide array of traumatic events that can cause an enormous
psychological burden. Individual characteristics influence the likelihood of being exposed to certain events,
pointing to systematic interindividual differences in trauma exposure. However, there is a dearth of studies
examining potential patterns of trauma exposure in war regions. In this cross-sectional epidemiological study, we
applied a person-centered approach to identify patterns in the exposure to conflict-related traumatic events and
determine their impact on commonly reported mental health problems in a population-based sample (N   1000)
from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. We implemented multi-stage random cluster sampling to
randomly select adults from 100 villages. Of 1000 adults (Mage   43.19 years) included in the study, 50% were
female. Results showed high prevalence of PTSD (17.0%), depression (27.8%), anxiety (25.4%) and suicidality
(15.1%) following exposure to conflict-related traumatic events since 2002. Latent Class Analysis identified three
distinct classes of trauma exposure: Class 1 “low-trauma-exposure” (51.4%, n   514) was characterized by the
lowest probabilities of trauma exposure. Class 2 “non-physical-trauma” (39.1%, n   391) consisted of individuals
with a high probability for exposure to non-physical trauma types only. Class 3 “interpersonal-trauma” (9.5%, n  
95) had the overall highest probability of exposure to traumatic events and was the only class affected by
interpersonal-trauma types. Class membership was related to gender, age and place of living. Vulnerability to
mental health problems increased from low-trauma-exposure to non-physical-trauma to interpersonal-trauma class.
Our findings indicate that the exposure to traumatic events in conflict-affected populations underlies distinct
patterns, with interpersonal trauma as a distinguishing marker. Vulnerability to psychopathology varies with
trauma patterns, revealing patterns that include both non-physical and interpersonal traumata as most detrimental
for mental health. Identification of underlying trauma patterns and their effects may improve mental
health care in war-affected populations.
DA  - 2021
DO  - 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2021.100005
KW  - Trauma exposure
KW  - PTSD
KW  - Latent class analysis
KW  - Democratic Republic of Congo
KW  - Violence
KW  - Trauma patterns
LA  - eng
PY  - 2021
SN  - 26665603
T2  - SSM - Mental Health
TI  - Patterns of conflict-related trauma exposure and their relation to psychopathology: A person-centered analysis in a population-based sample from eastern DRC
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29555784
Y2  - 2024-12-04T08:32:53
ER  -