The relationships of post-traumatic stress disorder to adolescent illegal activities, drinking, and employment.

Abstract

The authors compared the self-reported incidences of adolescent legal problems, drinking, employment, and church attendance in psychiatric patients (N = 116) with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and normals (N = 28). The differences did not exceed chance expectations. The data raise doubts about the validity of the theory that PTSD is at least partially a result of pre-traumatic personality maladjustment.