Situational exposure and personal loss in children's acute and chronic stress reactions to a school bus disaster

Individual measurement of exposure to everyday violence among elementary schoolchildren across various settings

“…A discussion of the relationship between exposure to violence on television and children's violent behavior is beyond the scope of this article, although it is a field attracting much interest in the literature~e.g., Huesmann & Miller, 1994;Lazar, 1994!. The effects of violence on children's mental health and well-being have been studied extensively. Much of the literature involves children's responses to disaster e.g., Breton, Valla, & Lambert, 1993;Davidson & Baum, 1990;Shannon, Lonigan, Finch, & Taylor, 1994!, or to specific acute events such as sniper attack~Pynoos et al Schwarz & Kowalski, 1991!, kidnapping~Terr, 1983!, or accidents~Martini, Ryan, Nakayama, & Ramenofsky, 1990Milgram, Toubiana, Klingman, Raviv, & Goldstein, 1988! ; and much of it relies on parent or teacher reports of children's exposure, and on child outcome~see Shahinfar & Fox, 1998;Shahinfar et al, 2000!. Recently, researchers have expressed concern about the level of chronic violence in innercity United States communities, although little attention has been paid specifically to the potential impact on young children living in environments of chronic violence~Osofsky, 1995!.…”

Exposure and Peritraumatic Response as Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress in Children Following the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing

“…Diagnostic criteria require that the victim experience, witness, or confront the traumatic event. 9 Research has demonstrated the role of physical proximity [10][11][12][13] and interpersonal exposure [14][15][16] in symptom development in children. Television coverage has also been implicated.…”

“…11,12,[14][15][16][17][18][21][22][23] Nader and colleagues 17 found that PTSD symptomatology in Kuwaiti children following the Gulf War correlated positively with direct exposure through witnessing and with indirect exposure through television coverage, but not with indirect exposure through interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, in a study of the impact of various forms of trauma, illness or death of someone close to the child posed the greatest risk for the development of PTSD, 14 and interpersonal exposure was more important than physical exposure in adolescents who witnessed a school bus accident involving their peers.…”

Long‐term Outcome of Trauma in Children: The Psychological Consequences of a Bus Accident

“…However, older children seem more at risk for anxiety and depressive reactions (Vogel & Vernberg, 1993). Results regarding gender have proved contradictory, but indicate that girls show more internalising and boys more externalising symptoms (Breton, Valla, & Lambert, 1993 ;Dyregrov, Kuterovac, & Barath, 1996 ;Milgram, Toubiana, Klingman, Raviv, & Goldstein, 1988 ;Kuterovac, Dyregrov, & Stuvland, 1994 ;Yule, Bruggencate, & Joseph, 1994). High levels of parental distress, along with an impoverished family climate, are regarded as the most important characteristics of the child's recovery environment that may impede children's adjustment to trauma (Applebaum & Burns, 1991 ;Breton et al 1993 ;Galante & Foa, 1987 ;Green et al, 1991 ;McFarlane, 1987 ;Rutter, 1994a).…”