NCJ Number
223767
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 19 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2004 Pages: 727-742
Date Published
June 2004
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined experience of violence and other stressors outside the home, and their implications for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among women from South Africa’s townships.
Abstract
The women describe their neighborhoods as quite violent, consistent with prior research findings that in South Africa the pervasive culture of violence means a society that endorses and accepts violence as an acceptable and legitimate means to resolve problems and achieve goals. Two-thirds of the help-seeking women reported that they experienced at least one traumatic event outside the home making it clear that community violence against women, and other community stressors, were pervasive components of the environment in which these women lived. Not surprisingly, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology is rampant among the study participants. The well-documented link between violent victimization and PTSD seems particularly relevant to South Africa, widely recognized as a country where physical force has been and remains a major social resource. Given the high rates of crime in South Africa’s townships, nonpolitical violence outside the home and its psychological impact on women are investigated within 2 samples, the primary a help-seeking sample of 90 adult women and the secondary a community sample. The study addressed several descriptive and explanatory research questions. Tables and references