The Role of Race, Social Support, Empowerment, and Posttraumatic Cognitions in Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Black women experience more frequent and severe intimate partner violence (IPV), but there are mixed findings on their posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. This may be explained by cultural-salient factors which are associated with fewer posttraumatic cognitions. We hypothesized an indirect effect of race on PTSD symptoms via social support, empowerment, and posttraumatic cognitions, serially. Path analysis revealed Black women reported increased social support, which was associated with higher levels of empowerment, which was associated with lower levels of posttraumatic cognitions. Decreased posttraumatic cognitions were associated with less severe PTSD symptoms. Results increase understanding of culturally-salient factors that may impact PTSD symptoms in Black women.

Considerations for the provision of PTSD treatment among pregnant women with substance use histories: A clinical conceptual model based on case consultation field notes.

OBJECTIVE: Increasing prevalence of substance use in pregnancy presents a public health crisis that is compounded by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comorbidity. We aimed to detail the clinical complexities of PTSD treatment provision among pregnant women with substance use histories. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using clinical case consultation field notes (N = 47 meetings) which were gathered during a hybrid effectiveness-implementation pilot study of Written Exposure Therapy (WET) for PTSD among pregnant women seen in an obstetrics-SUD clinic [2019-2021]. Patient baseline survey data (N = 25) were used to characterize the sample and contextualize engagement. RESULTS: Participants were exposed to a high number of trauma/adversity event types. There was no association between number of trauma/adversity event types and treatment response or dropout. Qualitative findings revealed clinical features relevant to PTSD treatment, including multi-system involvement; parental trauma and substance use; relevance of substance use to trauma context and posttraumatic cognitions, emotions, and behaviors; impact of trauma on experiences of pregnancy, attachment, and child rearing; limited social networks placing women at risk of ongoing violence; and experiences of substance use discrimination. CONCLUSION: PTSD treatment among pregnant women with substance use histories is highly important to maternal-child health.

Development and evaluation of a new short form of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-30).

The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI) has been an important tool in researching masculinity. With the original measure at 94 items (Mahalik et al., 2003), there have been several abbreviated forms developed from 11 to 55 items. However, in confirmatory factor analyses (CFA's) testing 13 common factors, bifactor, hierarchical, and unidimensional models, only 4 models demonstrated adequate fit to the data, and most of these were for the still quite long 46-item version. As a result, there was no psychometrically strong truly short form of the CMNI. In the present study, data from 1561 community and university men were used to develop a short form. First an exploratory factor analysis using a portion of the data was conducted, which resulted in a 10-subscale dimensionality, followed by CFA estimating a common factors model. The results of the CFA were used to create two candidate models for a 30-item short form of the CMNI, based on Classical test theory (CTT) and optimized CTT. The best-fitting candidate model for the CMNI-30 was CTT. Next, the fit of the 29, 46, and 94 item models were compared to the 30-item version, which had the superior fit. Then, measurement invariance between White men and men of color was assessed, choosing this comparison because hegemonic masculinity is theorized to marginalize men of color. Evidence was found for full configural and metric, and partial scalar and residuals invariance. Finally, significant relationships between CMNI-30 scores and indicators of depression and anxiety provides preliminary concurrent evidence for its validity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).