Citation

Wang R, Wang L, Li Z, Cao C, Shi Z, Zhang J. J. Adolesc. 2013; 36(4): 717-725.

Affiliation

Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.05.008

PMID

23849666

Abstract

Increasing empirical studies suggest that the tripartite posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) model described in the DSM-IV does not accurately account for the underlying PTSD factor structure, and several alternative models have been proposed. The present study investigated a newly refined, five-factor model of PTSD symptoms in a sample of Chinese adolescent survivors of an earthquake. A total of 1198 middle school students (653 females, 526 males) with a mean age of 14.4 years (SD = 1.1, range: 11-18) participated in this study one month after an earthquake. The novel five-factor model comprised of intrusion, avoidance, numbing, dysphoric arousal, and anxious arousal demonstrated significantly better fit than two alternative four-factor models. Further analyses revealed differentiable relations between the PTSD factors and external measures of anxiety and depression. These findings provide empirical support for the robustness of five-factor model, and carry implications for further reorganization of PTSD criteria.

Language: en