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Predictors of Psychological Sequelae of Torture Among South African Former Political Prisoners

Joar veraas Halvorsen^1* and Ashraf Kagee²

¹ Centre on Violence, Traumatic Stress and Suicide Prevention, Trondheim, Norway
² Stellenbosch University, South Africa

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: joar.overaas.halvorsen{at}stolav.no.

	Abstract

The present study investigated potential predictors of the psychological sequelae of torture among 143 former political activists who had been detained during the apartheid era in South Africa. Using multiple regression analyses, the authors found that the number of times detained for political reasons, negative social support, strong religiousness, female gender, and number of days detained significantly predicted psychological distress and symptoms of traumatization as measured by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (adjusted R² = .183) and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (adjusted R² = .152). The number of times detained for political reasons, negative social support, strong religiousness, and female gender emerged as salient risk factors for psychological distress, whereas duration of imprisonment appeared to protect against posttraumatic symptoms. This article discusses these results in terms of the current research on factors associated with traumatization.

First published on August 27, 2009, doi:10.1177/0886260509340547
This version was published on August 31, 2009


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