after resettlement

Abstract—This study describes the evolution of trauma-related symptoms over 3 1/2 years in a group of Bosnian refugees. Twenty-one refugees received standardized psychological assess-ments shortly after arriving in the United States and then 1 year and 3 1/2 years later. Of these refugees, 76 % met diagnostic crite-ria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at baseline, 33 % at 1 year, and 24 % at 3 1/2 years. PTSD severity scores in women refugees were higher than scores in men at all three evaluation time points. At the 3 1/2-year evaluation, 44 % of women and 8% of men met criteria for PTSD and no correlation was found between PTSD symptom severity and either age or level of trauma exposure. A significant inverse correlation was found between Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores and PTSD sever-ity scores. Refugees who reported better mastery of the English language had significantly higher GAF scores. Although PTS