Posttraumatic stress disorder and its risk factors among adolescent survivors three years after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in China

Abstract

BackgroundSerious and long-lasting psychiatric consequences can be found in children and adolescents following earthquake, including the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although researchers have been focused on PTSD recently, its prevalence and risk factors after a huge natural disaster are still unclear because of limited sample size. The purpose of this study is to explore the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescent survivors three years after the Wenchuan earthquake, describe PTSD symptoms, and to find out risk factors of PTSD.MethodsA total of 4,604 adolescents from three middle schools which located in earthquake-stricken areas were recruited in this study. Instruments included the demographic questionnaire, questionnaire about earthquake exposure, the Social Support Appraisal Scale (SSA), the Posttraumatic stress disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SCID).ResultsThe prevalence rate of PTSD was 5.7% (frequency: n = 261), and the most commonly occurring symptoms of PTSD were distress at reminders (64.5%), difficulty concentration (59.1%), and being easily startled (58.6%). Loss of houses and property, being injured, deaths of family members, and witness of death are positive risk factors of PTSD, and physical exercise and social support are negative risk factors of PTSD.ConclusionsProfessional and effective interventions are needed to reduce the development of PTSD among adolescents after the Wenchuan earthquake, especially for these who lost their houses or property and lost their family members, witnessed death, and lacked of social support in the earthquake. Moreover, injured adolescents and adolescents who lacked of physical exercise also need intervention due to high risk.

Posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms in children after the Wenchuan earthquake

“…In the present study, the probability of PTSD after the Wenchuan earthquake was relatively lower than reports in other studies. Specifically, the probability of PTSD ranged from 15.9 to 36.5% among children in some studies conducted from three months to three years after the Wenchuan earthquake (Fan, Zhang, Yang, Mo, & Liu, 2011; Hou et al, 2011; Pan et al, 2015), which was higher than the probability obtained in our study, whereas the probability of PTSD one year later (5.6–8.7%) found in other studies was similar to our result (Lin et al, 2013; Tian, Wong, Li, & Jiang, 2014; Ying, Wu, & Chen, 2013). There were two main reasons for this finding.…”

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and associated factors among adolescents after 2015 Nepal Earthquake

“…In this study, we noticed that within the three months periods following the earthquake, 27.1% of the respondents met the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD which was higher than some earthquake studies among adolescents [11][12][13] however lower than the prevalence in other various studies. 4,8,10 A study conducted among Turkish child and adolescent trauma survivors found that almost 60% of Turkish child trauma survivors suffered from moderate to very severe levels of PTSD symptoms even 3 years after the 1999 earthquake.…”

“…In terms of traumatic symptoms and environmental damage conditions, with the exception of kindergartners, children who had their houses damaged or experienced separation from family members had a significantly higher PTSSC-15 score than children who did not experience environmental damage which is unlike from the findings of this study. 13 Significant difference was marked for grade (χ² = 9.324, p<0.01). It signifies that respondents studying in lower grade are more likely to develop symptoms of PTSD than those in higher grade which is similar to a previous study.…”

“…3 Along with physical and economic loss, disasters can have devastating consequences on adolescents' mental health and PTSD is the most commonly studied and most frequently experienced psychological disorder after disasters. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Previous studies have found that significant number of adolescents who were exposed to the trauma of earthquake had PTSD. 10,15 Adolescents and adults were among the most studied populations with high prevalence rates for PTSD.…”

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders among the Survivors of 2015 Nepal Earthquake, in Dhading, Nepal

“…The convergence of stresses and traumas, that's regarded as the pre-earthquake experience, peri-earthquake experience and -earthquake experience may lead to the development of post-traumatic stress disorders among the survivors in earthquake affected population. Previous study shows being female, uneducated, and married marital status has been allied with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (Norris et al, 2008;Sakuma et al, 2015;Tian, Wong, Li, & Jiang, 2014).…”