Attachment Disruptions,IQ, and PTSD in African American Adolescents: A Traumatology Perspective |
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| Authors: | Ibrahim A. Kira Cheryl Somers Linda Lewandowski Lisa Chiodo |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Cumulative Trauma Studies , Stone Mountain , Georgia , USA kiraaref@aol.com;3. Educational Psychology Department , Wayne State University , Detroit , Michigan , USA;4. School of Nursing , Wayne State University , Detroit , Michigan , USA |
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| Abstract: | Attachment disruptions, other traumas, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and intelligence quotient (IQ) were measured in a sample of 181 African American adolescents. Path analysis was utilized to test the effects of different types of attachment disruptions on IQ and PTSD. Findings supported that mother and father abandonments and being in foster care are associated with decreased perceptual reasoning, processing speed, and working memory, and increased discrepancy between perceptual and verbal toward decreased perceptual reasoning. Such suppression and discrepancy contribute to poor academic achievement. Results validated the traumatology perspective on attachment disruptions as traumas that are associated with PTSD, suppression of most IQ potentials, and with potential brain hemispheric desynchronization. The ramifications of these results for helping African American adolescents are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | African American adolescents attachment disruptions IQ discrepancy indexes IQ factors PTSD symptom clusters |
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