Libby O. Ruch

Measuring Exposure to Racism: Development and Validation of a Race-Related Stressor Scale (RRSS) for Asian American Vietnam Veterans

This article describes the development and validation of the Race-Related Stressor Scale (RRSS), a questionnaire that assesses exposure to race-related stressors in the military and war zone. Validated on a sample of 300 Asian American Vietnam veterans, the RRSS has high internal consistency and adequate temporal stability. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that exposure to race-related stressors accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and general psychiatric symptoms, over and above (by 20% and 19%, respectively) that accounted for by combat exposure and military rank. The RRSS appears to be a psychometrically sound measure of exposure to race-related stressors for this population. Race-related stressors as measured by the RRSS appear to contribute uniquely and substantially to PTSD symptoms and generalized psychiatric distress.

Sexual assault trauma during the acute phase: an exploratory model and multivariate analysis.

An exploratory model of variables affecting sexual assault trauma during the acute phase is proposed and tested, using a multivariate statistical analysis. As predicted, trauma level is affected by variables relating to the attack, the victims demographics, and social support systems, but most important are the prior-stress variables. Some demographic variables of the victim affect trauma directly, others indirectly. Thus, sexual assault trauma is a complex phenomenon resulting from an interplay of various independent variables. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of the victimization literature, prevailing stereotypes about rape, methodology of rape studies, and treatment-related issues.

The sexual assault symptom scale : measuring self-reported sexual assault trauma in the emergency room

To test the utility of a new self-report measure of trauma in the immediate aftermath of sexual assault, 253 women were interviewed with the 32-item Sexual Assault Symtom Scale (SASS) in a hospital emergency room within 72 hr of assault

Validation of the Sexual Assault Symptom Scale II (SASS II) Using a Panel Research Design

To examine the utility of a self-report scale of sexual assault trauma, 223 female victims were interviewed with the 43-item Sexual Assault Symptom Scale II (SASS II) at 1, 3, 7, 11, and 15 months postassault. Factor analyses using principal-components extraction with an oblimin rotation yielded 7 common factors with 31 items. The internal consistency was high for 4 factors and moderate for 2 factors. The multitrait-multimethod matrix, correlating the factor subscale scores of self-reported trauma and clinical assessment ratings, demonstrated both convergent and discriminant validity, indicating that the SASS II has construct validity. Correlations between the SASS II subscales and the intrusion subscale of the Impact of Events Scale also indicated the convergent and discriminant validity of the SASS II. Significant positive correlations between current and prior trauma levels further evidence the validity of the SASS.

Book Reviews : Margaret T. Gordon and Stephanie Riger, The Female Fear. New York: The Free Press, 1989, pp. xvi, 230,

Although there is an air of pessimism running through this book, there is also a recognition of accomplishments: transfer programs have improved the lives of millions of persons even though the official poverty statistics fail to record such improvements. By using a simple money income measure of household well-being, the Census Bureau ignores the real income gains provided by the in-kind transfers: food stamps, free school lunches, supplemental food for women, infants, and children (WIC), rent vouchers, public housing subsidies, medicaid, energy assistance, etc. These programs, which provide substantial benefits to some thirty million low income persons, are the central core of the war on poverty; they now make up over 70 percent of the budget for all income-tested programs but are not counted as income. Hence it is not surprising that policy analysts relying on poverty rates as the best indicator of social progress have become pessimistic. Glazer recognizes the deficiency of the poverty statistics, but that does not assuage his pessimism: relieving poverty through transfer payments to dependent, fragmented welfare households is not enough. We now have a more demanding measure of success; we want to bring these people into the mainstream of society. Using a comparative approach, Glazer notes that American society, being more diverse in its ethnic, cultural and geographic dimensions than many welfare states in Europe, has a more difficult time developing an orderly welfare system. In the US