Search

Despite the rapid growth of the Black Caribbean population in the United States, we know little about the presentation and prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among these groups. This study examines the demographic correlates and the effect of racial discrimination on OCD symptoms among a nationally-representative sample of Black Caribbean and African American adults (n = 5191). Drawing on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form (CIDI-SF) for OCD, we examine two types of obsessions (harm and contamination) and four types of compulsions (repeating, washing, ordering, and counting). There we no significant differences between Black Caribbeans and African Americans in obsessions and compulsions. Analysis among Black Caribbeans found that compared with Jamaican and Trinidadian Americans, Haitian American individuals reported the fewest number of obsessions and compulsions. We show that Black Caribbean Americans with lower income, lower self-rated physical and mental health, and more experiences with racial discrimination report higher levels of OCD. More specifically, racial discrimination was associated with contamination and harm obsessions, as well as washing and repeating compulsions. Our findings highlight the need to consider specific domains of OCD relative to Black Caribbeans, and the relationship between social and demographic variables on symptomology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Hispanic youth in the general community experience traumatic events and display symptoms of psychological distress more frequently than do Caucasian youth. However, little is known about how traumatic experiences in this ethnic minority population relate to psychopathology in clinical samples and whether these outcomes vary by gender and are impacted by family functioning. We hypothesized that traumatic stress reactions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and internalizing and externalizing symptoms, would vary by gender and by family functioning in a clinical sample of Hispanic youth., Method: The current study utilized baseline data from a randomized clinical trial (RCT) involving 200 Hispanic adolescents (122 boys and 78 girls) referred to treatment for experiencing clinical symptoms of 1 or more behavioral disorders and conflictual family relations. The rate of traumatic events, differences in outcomes depending on trauma exposure, and the effects gender, family functioning, and trauma on psychopathology and PTSD symptoms were examined., Results: Analyses revealed that 61% of Hispanic youth in this clinical sample experienced at least 1 traumatic event. Although only 12% of the sample reported PTSD scores in the clinical range, girls reported higher PTSD scores than did boys. Poor family cohesion was particularly detrimental to girls compared with boys and related to internalizing and PTSD symptoms. High family conflict predicted PTSD symptoms in boys but not in girls., Conclusions: These findings have clinical implications for working with Hispanic populations, suggesting that culturally sensitive interventions should incorporate family-based interventions for individuals who experience trauma to strengthen family bonds and decrease family conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)