Complex post-traumatic stress symptoms in female adolescents: the role of emotion dysregulation in impairment and trauma exposure after an acute sexual assault

BackgroundThere is a lack of comparative data on the prevalence and effects of exposure to violence in African youth.AimsWe assessed trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress symptoms and gender differences in adolescents from two African countries.MethodA sample of 2041 boys and girls from 18 schools in Cape Town and Nairobi completed anonymous self-report questionnaires.ResultsMore than 80% reported exposure to severe trauma, either as victims or witnesses. Kenyan adolescents, compared with South African, had significantly higher rates of exposure to witnessing violence (69% v. 58%), physical assault by a family member (27% v. 14%) and sexual assault (18% v. 14%). But rates of current full-symptom post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (22.2% v. 5%) and current partial-symptom PTSD (12% v. 8%) were significantly higher in the South African sample. Boys were as likely as girls to meet PTSD symptom criteria.ConclusionsAlthough the lifetime exposure to trauma was comparable across both settings, Kenyan adolescents had much lower rates of PTSD. This difference may be attributable to cultural and other trauma-related variables. High rates of sexual assault and PTSD, traditionally documented in girls, may also occur in boys and warrant further study.

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Sixty years later: post-traumatic stress symptoms and current psychopathology in former German children of World War II

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s104161020600442x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

pp. 955-961 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Philipp Kuwert ◽

Carsten Spitzer ◽

Anna Träder ◽

Harald J. Freyberger ◽

Michael Ermann

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Trauma Exposure ◽

Ptsd Symptoms ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

World War ◽

Stress Symptoms ◽

Trauma Impact ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

German Children

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the amount of trauma impact, post-traumatic stress symptoms and current psychopathological distress in a sample of former German children of World War II.Methods: 93 participants were recruited through the local press, and assessed using the modified Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) and the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R).Results: Subjects reported a high qualitative and quantitative degree of trauma exposure. 13.8% reported PTSD-related symptoms after the war, and 10.8% reported current symptoms. PTSD symptoms after World War II were significantly correlated with current psychopathological distress.Conclusions: In line with other studies, our data document a high degree of trauma exposure during warchildhood. In comparison with other studies on PTSD in warchildren, there is a persisting high prevalence of war-associated PTSD symptoms in this sample. Despite some methodological limitations, our data underline the urgent need for further studies on the ageing group of former children of World War II.

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