Pathways from war trauma to posttraumatic stress symptoms among Tamil asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants

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Abstract
Path analysis was used to examine the antecedents of posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms in Tamil asylum‐seekers, refugees, and immigrants in Australia. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and a postmigration living difficulties questionnaire were completed by 62 asylum‐seekers, 30 refugees, and 104 immigrants who responded to a mail‐out. Demographic characteristics, residency status, and measures of trauma and postmigration stress were fitted to a structural model in PTS symptoms. Premigration trauma exposure accounted for 20% of the variance of PTS symptoms. Postmigration stress contributed 14% of the variance. Although limited by sampling constraints and retrospective measurement, the study supports the notion that both traumatic and posttraumatic events contribute to the expression of PTS symptoms.