Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Psychiatry Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychres Prime and prejudice: The effect of priming context and prejudicial attitudes on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following immigrant violence Yaakov Hoffman a, ⁎ , Amit Shrira a , Ehud Bodner a,b , Menachem Ben-Ezra c a Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel b Department of Music, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel c School of Social Work, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel ARTICLE INFO Keywords: PTSD Priming Context Prejudice Immigrants ABSTRACT The recent arrival of immigrants into many western countries has become common. Clashes between immigrants and local residents may produce acts of violence. In two studies we assessed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in local residents exposed to immigrant violence, while addressing possible effects of priming context and prejudicial attitudes. In Study 1, context was either reminiscent/non-reminiscent of experiencing African immigrant violence (researcher with same/different ethnic origin to that of perpetrators). In Study 2, context was manipulated as a negative ("illegal-migrant") or neutral ("working-immigrant") framing for African immigrants. We also examined if effects of context on trauma symptoms are moderated by prejudicial attitudes towards African immigrants. As expected, higher PTSD symptom levels were evident in the presence of traumatic (Study 1) and negative (Study 2) context, yet only in residents with high prejudicial attitudes. Results suggest that both contexts and prejudice play a role in assessment of PTSD stemming from cultural conflicts. Theoretical implications of the data in terms of PTSD memory theories, are discussed including the notion of a PTSD context theory. Practical implications pertaining to the potential compatibility of researchers and therapists with trauma victims are also addressed. 1. Introduction According to the UN (UNHCR, Mid-Year Trends, 2014 1 ), immigrants from the Middle East and Africa have been crossing into many western countries in increasingly large numbers. These immigrants may reside in closed, ghetto type neighborhoods, maintaining their previous identity, language and religion (Alba and Foner, 2015). Striving to maintain segregated cultural/religious institutions may induce conflicts between newcomers and native neighborhood residents (Dancygier, 2010). Whereas most research has hitherto focused on the aftermath of immigrant suffering (e.g., Kira et al., 2014), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms may be common among local residents exposed to such conflicts, especially when manifested as neighborhood violence (Goldmann et al., 2011). The recent case of the 2016 New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany, where immigrants sexually attacked native residents may be an example of such violence eruption. As elaborated below, an additional and possibly independent factor is a prejudiced tendency of native neighborhood residents' towards new immigrants (Pehrson et al., 2009). Two studies addressed PTSD and prejudicial attitudes among local Israeli neighborhood residents, who were exposed to violence perpetrated by African immigrants. 1.1. Outline Sixty thousand African immigrants have arrived in Israel since 2007. Most of them have suffered in making their way from their home countries until arriving in Israel (e.g., Yacobi, 2010). African immi- grants in Israel typically tend to live in segregated areas, within specific south Tel-Aviv neighborhoods, such as Hatikva, Neveh-Shanan, Kiryat Shalom, and Shapira. These neighborhoods are small and crowded, with approximately 40,000 native Israeli's. 2 For instance, the Hatikva neighborhood is less than 3 square kilometers, with approximately 10,000 native Israelis 1 and 10,000 African immigrants 2 . According to a Knesset (Israeli Parliament) report 2 (August 10th, 2014) , these African immigrants came to Israel to work, thus more than 70% are males, who predominantly work in focal low-payed blue-collar jobs, such as movers, gardeners or in building. They typically do not speak Hebrew http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.04.061 Received 2 September 2016; Received in revised form 16 February 2017; Accepted 26 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: hoffmay@biu.ac.il (Y. Hoffman). 1 UNHCR, Mid-Year Trends 2014. United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved: www.unhcr.org/54aa91d89.html. 2 http://www.mynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4825527,00.html. Psychiatry Research 254 (2017) 224–231 Available online 27 April 2017 0165-1781/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. MARK