PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING AND SUBSTANCE-ABUSE BEFORE AND AFTER THE 1992 LOS-ANGELES RIOT IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF WOMEN

An ongoing study of interventions designed to increase nontraditional social supports among women at high risk for HIV infection was in the field during the 1992 Los Angeles riot in those neighborhoods most aff ected by the urban unrest. Using data from structured interviews, the psychosocial characteristics, drug abuse patterns, and distress levels among the women who were recruited for the project in the six months before and after the riot were examined. While substance abuse levels among participants did not increase or decrease as a function of the r iot, there were a smaller number of social supports and marginally gre ater levels of already high psychological distress. Women in the commu nity specifically mentioned a lack of social supports from counselors available in affected areas after the riot. An ethnographic analysis d iscusses the experience of the participants in the community during th e same period of time. Problems in social supports are pointed out. Th e results are discussed in terms of a general theory of service provis ion by increasing nontraditional social supports, especially immediate ly after a major cataclysm.