Psychological Functioning and Substance Abuse Before andAfter the 1992 LosAngeles Riot in a Community Sample ofWODlent

Abstract

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 affected 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 riot, there were a smaller number of social supports and marginally greater levels of already high psychological distress. Women in the community specifically mentioned a lack of social supports from counselors available in affected areas after the riot. An ethnographic analysis discusses the experience of the participants in the community during the same period of time. Problems in social supports are pointed out. The results are discussed in terms of a general theory of service provision by increasing nontraditional social supports, especially immediately after a major cataclysm.

Keywords:

• Los Angeles riot
• psychological functioning
• substance abuse
• women