Citation

C'de Baca J, Castillo DT, Mackaronis JE, Qualls C. Behav. Sci. (Basel) 2014; 4(1): 72-86.

Affiliation

Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), University of New Mexico, MSC 09 5030, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA; E-Mail: cqualls@salud.unm.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/bs4010072

PMID

25379270

PMCID

PMC4219251

Abstract

Personality Disorders (PDs) impair the ability to function socially and occupationally. PD prevalence rates among veterans who have also been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) range from 45%-79%. This study examined ethnic differences in PDs assessed with the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III in 260 non-Hispanic white (64%), Hispanic (27%), and African American (9%), mostly single, women veterans in treatment for PTSD. After adjusting for covariates including number and sexual-nature of trauma, findings revealed the adjusted odds ratio of having a cluster A PD was almost three times higher for African Americans (p = 0.046) then the other two ethnic groups, which may be driven by the paranoid PD scale and potentially reflects an adaptive response to racial discrimination. In cluster designation analysis, the odds were twice as high of having a cluster B PD with childhood trauma (p = 0.046), and a cluster C PD with sexual trauma (p = 0.004), demonstrating the significance of childhood and sexual trauma on long-term chronic personality patterns in women veterans. These results highlight the importance of using instruments with demonstrated diagnostic validity for minority populations.

Language: en