A study of the post-traumatic stress and depressive reactions of adolescents in the severe disaster areas after the Wenchuan earthquake

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the severity of the adolescents's post-traumatic stress and depressive reactions of adolescents in the severe disaster areas 1 months after the 5.12 earthquake, and to find it's exposure factors.Methods Based on the classes,using the earthquake exposure questionnaire that made by ourselves,UCLA PTSD Index for DSM-IV,Depression Self-rating Scale for Children(DSRSC);278 adolescents were investigated adopting stratified random cluster sampling method.Results The incidence of adolescents on depressive disorder was 28.8%(80/278) and the incidence on post-traumatic stress reaction was 23.0% (64/278). There were positively corrections between the reaction index of post-traumatic stress disorder and the scores of DSRSC( r =0.707,P <0.001).Depression in adolescents influencing factors were sex( r =0.227,P <0.001), his/her former knowledge of earthquake( r =-0.142,P <0.05),the relation between the student and the hurt/dead teacher/classes( r =0.133,P <0.05).Arising from post-traumatic stress disorder of adolescents influencing factors were sex( r =0.207,P <0.001),the relation between the student and the hurt/dead teacher/classes( r =0.159,P <0.05),where he/she was when the earthquake happened( r =-0.137,P <0.05),his/her former knowledge of earthquake( r =-0.122,P <0.05).Conclusion The mental health of adolescents in the severe disaster areas are seriously impacted. There are significent corrections between the impact degree and the extent of disaster exposure.For further follow-up study will be explored in order to minimize the earthquake disaster on the negative impact of young people. Key words: Earthquake; Adolescent; Post-traumatic stress reaction; Depressive reaction