Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health; Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Identifying teens at risk for PTSD following traumatic events
While most children cannot be shielded from emotionally traumatic events, clinicians can target those who are most vulnerable to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a large study from Boston Children's Hospital. Findings appear online in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, accompanied by an editorial.
Researchers led by Katie McLaughlin, PhD, of the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Boston Children's, analyzed data on 6,483 teen-parent pairs from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a survey of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in the United States.
Overall, 61 percent of the teens (ages 13 to 17) had been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, including interpersonal violence (such as rape, physical abuse or witnessing domestic violence), injuries, natural disasters and death of a close friend or family member. Nineteen percent had experienced three or more such events.
Risk factors associated most strongly with trauma exposure included:
Lack of both biological parents in the home. Pre-existing mental disorders, particularly behavioral disorders like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder.Of all teens exposed to trauma, 4.7 percent had experienced PTSD under DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Risk factors for PTSD included:
Female gender: Of the total sample, girls had a lifetime prevalence of PTSD of 7.3 percent, and boys 2.2 percent. Events involving interpersonal violence: the lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 39 percent for teens who had been raped and 25 percent for those physically abused by a caregiver. Underlying anxiety and mood disorders (also a risk factor for exposure).Risk factors for lack of recovery from PTSD included underlying bipolar disorder, exposure to an additional traumatic event, living in poverty and being a U.S. native.
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.Visit our anxiety / stress section for the latest news on this subject.
Katie A. McLaughlin, Ph.D., Karestan C. Koenen, Ph.D., Eric D. Hill, M.S.P.H., Maria Petukhova, Ph.D., Nancy A. Sampson, B.A., Alan M. Zaslavsky, Ph.D., Ronald C. Kessler, Ph.D., Trauma Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a National Sample of Adolescents, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2013.05.011
Boston Children's Hospital
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:MLA
31 Jul. 2013.
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
'Identifying teens at risk for PTSD following traumatic events'
Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.
All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam). We reserve the right to amend opinions where we deem necessary.
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment