Acute Stress, Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms Among English and Spanish Speaking Children with Recent Trauma Exposure

Abstract

A growing literature suggests the clinical importance of acute stress disorder symptoms in youth following potentially traumatic events. A multisite sample of English and Spanish speaking children and adolescents (N=479) between the ages of 8-17, along with their caregivers completed interviews and self-report questionnaires between 2days and 1month following the event. The results indicate that children with greater total acute stress symptoms reported greater depressive (r=.41, p<.01) and anxiety symptoms (r=.53, p<.01). Examining specific acute stress subscales, reexperiencing was correlated with anxiety (r=.47, p<.01) and arousal was correlated with depression (r=.50, p<.01) and anxiety (r=.55, p<.01). Age was inversely associated with total acute stress symptoms (r=-.24, p<.01), reexperiencing (r=-.17, p<.01), avoidance (r=-.27, p<.01), and arousal (r=-.19, p<.01) and gender was related to total anxiety symptoms (Spearman's ρ=.17, p<.01). The current study supports the importance of screening acute stress symptoms and other mental health outcomes following a potentially traumatic event in children and adolescents. Early screening may enable clinicians to identify and acutely intervene to support children's psychological and physical recovery.