Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Gender, and Risk Factors: World Trade Center Tower Survivors 10 to 11 Years After the September 11, 2001 Attacks

Ten to eleven years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was evaluated in 1,755 World Trade Center (WTC) evacuees based on data from the WTC Health Registry. Characteristics of men and women were compared and factors associated with PTSD symptom severity were examined using the PTSD Checklist (PCL). Compared with men ( n = 1,015, 57.8%), women ( n = 740, 42.2%) were younger and of lower socioeconomic status. Ten to eleven years after September 11, 2001, 13.7% of men and 24.1% of women met criteria for PTSD. Results indicated that when considered with all other variables (i.e., demographic, socioeconomic and social resources, exposure to the attacks, life events), gender was not a significant predictor of PTSD symptom severity. Being younger on September 11, 2001, unemployed, less educated, and/or having higher exposure to the attacks, unmet mental health care needs, and less social support predicted higher PCL scores for both genders (βs = .077 to .239). Demographic characteristics and socioeconomic resources (Δ R 2 = .113) accounted for the largest amount of variance in PCL scores over and above exposure/evacuation, mental healthcare needs, and social support variables (Δ R 2 = .093 to .102). When trends of unmet mental healthcare needs were analyzed, the most prevalent response for men was that they preferred to manage their own symptoms (15.1%), whereas the most prevalent response for women was that they could not afford to pay for mental health care (14.7%). Although the prevalence of probable PTSD in women tower survivors was approximately twice as high as it was for men, this is attributable largely to demographic and socioeconomic resource factors and not gender alone. Implications for treatment and interventions are discussed. Spanish Abstracts by the Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático (ACET) SOBREVIVIENTES DE LA TORRE DEL WORLD TRADE CENTER: TRASTORNO DE ESTRÉS POSTRAUMÁTICO, GÉNERO, Y FACTORES DE RIESGO DESPUÉS DE 10 A 11 AÑOS DE LOS ATAQUES DEL 11 DE SEPTIEMBRE DEL 2001 Género y TEPT relacionado con el 11 de Septiembre Diez a once años después de los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001, se evaluó el probable Trastorno de Estrés Postraumático (TEPT) en 1.755 evacuados del World Trade Center (WTC) según los datos del Registro de Salud del WTC . Se compararon las características de hombres y mujeres y se examinaron los factores asociados con la gravedad de los síntomas de TE