TY - JOUR
T1 - Posttraumatic stress disorder in young children 3 years posttrauma
T2 - Prevalence and longitudinal predictors
AU - Meiser-Stedman, Richard
AU - Smith, Patrick
AU - Yule, William
AU - Glucksman, Edward
AU - Dalgleish, Tim
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Objective: Age-appropriate criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children have been established. The present study investigated the long-term course of such PTSD and its predictors in young children. Methods: Young children (aged 2-10 years) and parents/caregivers who had attended emergency departments after motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) between May 2004 and November 2005 were assessed at 2 to 4 weeks and 6 months post-MVC; 71 families were re-interviewed 3 years post-MVC. Participants were assessed according to standard DSM-IV criteria for PTSD and a well-validated alternative algorithm for diagnosing PTSD in young children (PTSD-AA). Demographic, traumarelated, and parental mental health variables and intellectual ability were also assessed at baseline. Results: Using an "optimal-report" procedure (a positive diagnosis according to parent or child for older children, or just parent for younger children), 7.0% met criteria for DSM-IV PTSD and 16.9% for PTSD-AA at 3 years. Using parent report alone, these rates were 1.4% and 2.8%, respectively. Parent-child agreement for PTSD and PTSD-AA was no better than chance (Cohen K = -0.03 and -0.04, respectively). Baseline parent posttraumatic stress relating to the child's trauma, and not trauma severity, was correlated with optimalreport child PTSD-AA at each assessment (r values = 0.29-0.31) and accounted for unique variance in logistic regression models of this outcome at each assessment. Conclusions: PTSD-AA in young children can persist for years but is underrecognized by parents despite its being shaped to a large extent by parents' own acute traumatic stress in response to the child's trauma.
AB - Objective: Age-appropriate criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children have been established. The present study investigated the long-term course of such PTSD and its predictors in young children. Methods: Young children (aged 2-10 years) and parents/caregivers who had attended emergency departments after motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) between May 2004 and November 2005 were assessed at 2 to 4 weeks and 6 months post-MVC; 71 families were re-interviewed 3 years post-MVC. Participants were assessed according to standard DSM-IV criteria for PTSD and a well-validated alternative algorithm for diagnosing PTSD in young children (PTSD-AA). Demographic, traumarelated, and parental mental health variables and intellectual ability were also assessed at baseline. Results: Using an "optimal-report" procedure (a positive diagnosis according to parent or child for older children, or just parent for younger children), 7.0% met criteria for DSM-IV PTSD and 16.9% for PTSD-AA at 3 years. Using parent report alone, these rates were 1.4% and 2.8%, respectively. Parent-child agreement for PTSD and PTSD-AA was no better than chance (Cohen K = -0.03 and -0.04, respectively). Baseline parent posttraumatic stress relating to the child's trauma, and not trauma severity, was correlated with optimalreport child PTSD-AA at each assessment (r values = 0.29-0.31) and accounted for unique variance in logistic regression models of this outcome at each assessment. Conclusions: PTSD-AA in young children can persist for years but is underrecognized by parents despite its being shaped to a large extent by parents' own acute traumatic stress in response to the child's trauma.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017029631&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4088/JCP.15m10002
DO - 10.4088/JCP.15m10002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85017029631
SN - 0160-6689
VL - 78
SP - 334
EP - 339
JO - Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
IS - 3
ER -
