Disclosure attitudes and social acknowledgement as predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity in Chinese and German crime victims.
OBJECTIVE
Only rare data exist comparing cross-cultural aspects of civilian traumatization. We compared prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in German and Chinese crime victims, and investigated the cross-cultural effect of 2 interpersonal predictors.


METHODS
German (n = 151) and Chinese (n = 144) adult crime victims were assessed several months postcrime. The parallel questionnaire set assessed PTSD symptom severity, disclosure attitudes, social acknowledgement, and demographic and crime characteristics.


RESULTS
German and Chinese participants differed significantly in their PTSD symptom severity. However, in both samples, disclosure attitudes and social acknowledgement predicted PTSD symptom severity with a similar strength, in addition to the effects of other PTSD predictors.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that interpersonal variables are predictors of PTSD symptom severity in both cultures and should be included in etiologic models of PTSD.
Mueller
Julia
J
University Hospital Zurich, Psychiatric Department, Zurich, Switzerland. julia.mueller@usz.ch
Orth
Ulrich
U
Wang
Jianping
J
Maercker
Andreas
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D002681:China; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult