Potentially traumatic events are common in children but do not typically result in post-traumatic stress symptoms or disorder, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a unique psychiatric diagnosis because it requires an initiating event, such as war, rape, natural disaster or serious illness, according to background information in the article. In children, the list of events that could lead to PTSD includes a parent being sent to prison, sudden separation from a loved one and learning of a traumatic event occurring to a loved one.
William E. Copeland, Ph.D., and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., conducted annual interviews with 1,420 children from age 9, 11 or 13 through age 16. Between 1993 and 2000, participants and their parents were interviewed in separate rooms and asked about traumatic events that may have occurred in the previous year. In addition, they reported any symptoms of post-traumatic stress that the children displayed, including compulsive behaviors to suppress memories, panic attacks and engaging in dangerous activities.
More than two-thirds of the children reportedly experienced at least one traumatic event by age 16, including 30.8 with exposure to one event and 37 percent to multiple events. The most common events were witnessing or learning about a trauma that affected others, known as , vicarious, events.