title: Pathways from war trauma to posttraumatic stress symptoms among Tamil asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants.
abstract: Path analysis was used to examine the antecedents of posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms in Tamil asylum-seekers, refugees, and immigrants in Australia. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and a postmigration living difficulties questionnaire were completed by 62 asylum-seekers, 30 refugees, and 104 immigrants who responded to a mail-out. Demographic characteristics, residency status, and measures of trauma and postmigration stress were fitted to a structural model in PTS symptoms. Premigration trauma exposure accounted for 20% of the variance of PTS symptoms. Postmigration stress contributed 14% of the variance. Although limited by sampling constraints and retrospective measurement, the study supports the notion that both traumatic and posttraumatic events contribute to the expression of PTS symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Liverpool Hospital, Australia.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Steel
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Silove
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bird
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McGorry
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mohan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000208:ethnology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014857:Warfare