Experiencing racial discrimination increases vulnerability to PTSD after trauma via peritraumatic dissociation

Figures & data

Figure 1. PROCESS Model 4 mediation analysis.

Figure 2. PROCESS Model 8 moderated mediation analysis.

Table 1. Bivariate correlations of racial discrimination (RD), peritraumatic dissociation, and PTSD symptom severity.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1.Total RD	–	0.903***	0.880***	0.821***	0.801***	0.660***	0.289**	0.263**
2.Exclusion/Rejection^a		–	0.777***	0.672***	0.616***	0.545***	0.265**	0.278**
3.Discrimination^a at work			–	0.601***	0.601***	0.544***	0.160	0.172
4. Stigmatization^a				–	0.569***	0.571***	0.269**	0.176
5.Threat/Aggression^a					–	0.391***	0.270**	0.298**
6.Unfair policing^a						–	0.274**	0.076
7.Peritraumatic dissociation							–	0.445***
8.PTSD symptom severity								–

Note. ^aIndicates subscales of racial discrimination measure; *** p < .001, ** p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 2. Gender Differences of racial discrimination, peritraumatic dissociation, and PTSD symptom severity.

Gender	Men		Women		t(111)	p	Cohen’s d
	M	SD	M	SD
Total RD	2.11	0.91	1.86	.085	1.49	.139	0.288
Exclusion/Rejection^a	2.34	1.09	2.23	1.14	0.504	.616	0.097
Discrimination at work^a	2.27	1.06	2.10	1.08	0.842	.402	0.162
Stigmatization^a	1.81	1.00	1.47	0.75	2.058	.042*	0.397
Threat/Aggression^a	1.81	0.99	1.63	1.00	0.964	.337	0.186
Unfair policing^a	2.93	1.58	1.93	1.25	3.754	<.001*	0.724
Peritraumatic Dissociation	27.27	9.91	27.12	9.03	0.087	.931	0.017
PTSD Symptom Severity	10.05	9.36	14.38	12.61	-1.959	.053	0.378

Note. ^aIndicates subscales of racial discrimination measure; *Significant at the 0.05 level.

Table 3. Model summary of the indirect effect of total racial discrimination on PTSD symptom severity.

	Outcome
	M – Peritraumatic dissociation			Y – PTSD symptom severity
Predictor	B	SE B	p	B	SE B	p
Total Racial Discrimination	2.81	1.04	.008**	1.39	1.23	.258
Peritraumatic Dissociation	–	–	–	0.488	0.11	<.001***
Constant	20.51	3.43	.001***	−8.39	4.52	.066
	R^2 = 0.089 F(3, 109) = 3.55, p = .017*			R^2= 0.24 F(4, 109) = 8.40, p < .001***
				95% Confidence Interval
Indirect effect		B	SE	Lower limit		Upper limit
Total indirect effect		1.37	0.65	0.21		2.72

Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table 4. Moderated-mediational analysis for total racial discrimination, peritraumatic dissociation, and PTSD symptom severity.

	B	SE B	t
Mediator – Peritraumatic Dissociation
Predictor: Total Discrimination	3.71	1.55	2.39*
Moderator: Gender	3.70	4.40	2.39
Interaction: Discrimination × Gender	−1.48	2.00	0.84
Outcome – PTSD Symptoms
Predictor: Total Discrimination	1.02	1.77	0.58
Moderator: Gender	2.62	4.91	0.53
Mediator: Peritraumatic Dissociation	0.49	0.11	4.50**
Interaction: Discrimination × Gender	1.29	2.24	0.58
	Conditional ind. effect	Boot SE	95% CI
Moderator – Gender
Males	1.78	0.93	0.30—3.97
Females	1.07	0.82	−0.63 to 2.59
	Boot Ind. Effect	Boot SE	95% CI
Index of Moderated Mediation	−0.71	1.11	−3.26 to 1.12

Note. * p < .05, **p < .001.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the NIMH NDA data repository, https://nda.nih.gov. Data can be made available upon request from the author.