Ethnic Variation in Whether Dissociation Mediates the Relation Between Traumatic Life Events and Attenuated Positive Psychotic Symptoms

Abstract

The present study sought to determine whether dissociative experiences mediated the relationship between traumatic life events and attenuated positive psychotic symptoms in a non-treatment-seeking sample of racial and ethnic minority young adults. Participants (n = 549) completed a self-report inventory for psychosis risk (i.e., the Prodromal Questionnaire; R. L. Loewy, C. E. Bearden, J. K. Johnson, A. Raine, & T. D. Cannon, 2005), from which a total number of attenuated positive psychotic symptoms was assessed. Participants also completed a checklist of potentially traumatic life events and a traumatic dissociation scale. Hierarchical linear regression models and bootstrapping results indicated that dissociation mediated the relationship between traumatic life events and attenuated positive psychotic symptoms. Stratified analyses of Black, Asian, and Hispanic subgroups revealed that full mediation was only evident in the Black subgroup of young adults. Partial mediation was found among the Hispanic group, and no mediation occurred in the Asian subgroup. For the latter, traumatic life events were not significantly associated with dissociative experiences. A dissociative response style may be particularly relevant to trauma-exposed Black young adults exhibiting subclinical psychotic experiences and less so for Asian young adults. Trauma-induced dissociative experiences should be assessed further in clinical high-risk studies, especially among Black traumatized youth.

KEYWORDS:

• dissociation
• psychosis
• racial/ethnic minority
• trauma

Additional information

Funding

Support for this project was provided by a grant from the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York State Office of Mental Health, to Deidre M. Anglin.