Village characteristics associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms in postconflict Liberia.
BACKGROUND
Group-level factors may be associated with mental health. We assessed whether various village-level variables were associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms in a resettled postconflict population in Liberia.


METHODS
Individual surveys were administered to a population-based sample (n = 1434). We used multilevel random intercept linear regression models to estimate associations between individual- and village-level variables and posttraumatic-stress-symptom score.


RESULTS
In a multilevel model taking into account individual-level covariates, living in a village with higher mean number of traumatic experiences or greater history of displacement was associated with a higher symptom score. Conversely, living in a village with a more equal distribution of household wealth was associated with lower symptom score.


CONCLUSIONS
Characteristics of communities, as well as of individuals, may be important determinants of posttraumatic stress in low-income countries, such as Liberia, that are recovering from conflict.
Rockers
Peter C
PC
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. prockers@hsph.harvard.edu
Kruk
Margaret E
ME
Saydee
Geetor
G
Varpilah
S Tornorlah
ST
Galea
Sandro
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007988:Liberia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014857:Warfare