DOES PTSD TRANSCEND CULTURAL BARRIERS - A STUDY FROM THE KHMER ADOLESCENT REFUGEE PROJECT

Objective: To determine whether the factor structure of the posttrauma tic stress disorder (PTSD) syndrome in Cambodian refugee youth resembl es earlier reported factor studies in Caucasian samples. Method: 194 K hmer adolescent refugees who reported prior significant trauma (most o f it massive war trauma as children) were administered the PTSD module of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents, as part of an epidemiological study on the effects of war on this group of refuge es. Results: The following four factors were found: arousal, avoidance , intrusion, and numbing. A confirmatory factor analysis using data fr om the parents of this sample yielded a good fit for the four-factor s olution based on the youth data. Conclusions: The four-factor solution from this sample resembled earlier studies on traumatized Caucasian a nd African-American adults. These results lend further credibility to the veracity of this diagnosis with refugee samples. PTSD as a result of prior war trauma appears to surmount the barriers of culture and la nguage in this sample.