Relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth in adolescents

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth among adolescents. Methods In total, 1123 junior middle school students sampled from the Wenchuan earthquake area were assessed in june 2011. Questionnaires included the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV ( Revision 1), Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRS) , the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Results The girls reported significantly higher levels of depression (girls 14.72±5.49, boys 13.08±5.83) and anxiety (girls 31.54±15.43, boys 27.03±17.09) than boys (P<0.05). The minorities reported significantly higher levels of PTG (minorities 59.97±14.06, Han 57.71±15.06), PTSD (22.05±12.12, 19.42±12.78) and anxiety (30.36±16.35, 28.01±16.39) than the Han students (P<0.05). The students whose father had higher degree of education reported lower level of depression and higher level of PTG (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the PTSD total score, avoidance, arousal, DSRS and school avoidance scores were negatively related to PTGI score (r=-0.074, -0.091, -0.075, -0.360, -0.088, P<0.05 ). Linear regression analysis showed that the DSRS score was negatively related to PTGI total score and its four sub-scores (β=-0.365, -0.332, -0.332, -0.315, 0.284, P<0.05). Conclusion Depression symptoms is negatively correlated with PTG and may be an adverse factor for post-traumatic growth in adolescents. Key words: Posttraumatic growth; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Depression; Anxiety