title: Hispanic ethnicity and Caucasian race: Relations with posttraumatic stress disorder's factor structure in clinic-referred youth.
abstract: The severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is linked to race and ethnicity, albeit with contradictory findings (reviewed in Alcántara, Casement, & Lewis-Fernández, 2013; Pole, Gone, & Kulkarni, 2008). We systematically examined Caucasian (n = 3,767) versus non-Caucasian race (n = 2,824) and Hispanic (n = 2,395) versus non-Hispanic ethnicity (n = 3,853) as candidate moderators of PTSD's 5-factor model structural parameters (Elhai et al., 2013). The sample was drawn from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Core Data Set, currently the largest national data set of clinic-referred children and adolescents exposed to potentially traumatic events. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we tested the invariance of PTSD symptom structural parameters by race and ethnicity. Chi-square difference tests and goodness-of-fit values showed statistical equivalence across racial and ethnic groups in the factor structure of PTSD and in mean item-level indicators of PTSD symptom severity. Results support the structural invariance of PTSD's 5-factor model across the compared racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, results indicated equivalent item-level severity across racial and ethnic groups; this supports the use of item-level comparisons across these groups.
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo.
authors.forename: Ateka A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Contractor
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo.
authors.forename: Meredith A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Claycomb
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo.
authors.forename: Brianna M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Byllesby
authors.affiliation: University of California-Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Layne
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Julie B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kaplow
authors.affiliation: University of California-Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo.
authors.forename: Jon D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Elhai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology