Camulative trauma among adult mayas living in southeast Florida

The toxic combination of social, psychological, environmental, cultural, and physiological trauma Mayas living in Southeast Florida face daily places them at higher risk for mental and physical disorders (Marmot & Wilkinson, 2006; WHO, 2010, September). The burden of disease is not limited to mental disorder comorbidities; psychological stress can also induce or exacerbate chronic medical diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension (Brunner & Marmot, 2006; Sridhar, 2007). This translates to high levels of morbidity, mortality, and disability among ethnically diverse populations (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). The continuation of this disregard will add to the health disparity of this nation by delaying assessment, treatment, and development of interventions. The purpose of this study was to explore cumulative trauma as it related to social determinants of health and pathophysiological, psychological, and health behaviors of 102 adult Mayas living in Southeast Florida. The trauma profile for the Mayan population sample obtained through this study reflected high exposure to different types of trauma; collective identity trauma was most frequently reported, followed by survival trauma, achievement trauma, secondary trauma, and personal identity trauma, with high rates of repetition of the same traumas. Cumulative trauma emerged as the most significant type of trauma, in that it addresses the combination of all similar and dissimilar traumas in the lifespan of a person. Data also revealed that language combined with literacy level may play a role on how populations such as the Mayas report symptoms, as Spanish is a second language for Mayas, with few being able to read it fluently. The findings in this study confirmed that high levels of cumulative trauma dose and the social determinants of health are embedded throughout the cultural experience of the Mayan people, which in the present day manifests as mild forms of depression symptoms for women and moderate alcohol use risk for men. Key words: Maya; alcohol; ASSIST; cumulative trauma; Beck Depression Inventory-II; genocide; Guatemala; Hispanic; social determinants of health