Citation

Woods-Jaeger B, Briggs EC, Vivrette RL, Lee RC, Suarez L, Belcher HME. J. Child Adolesc. Trauma 2019; 12(4): 447-456.

Affiliation

6Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40653-019-00251-7

PMID

32318214

PMCID

PMC7163816

Abstract

Trauma-exposed youth with impaired caregivers (i.e., due to substance use and/or mental health problems) may be at particular risk for negative outcomes. This study utilized data from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set to examine the impact of caregiver impairment on youth outcomes. Trauma-exposed youth with an impaired caregiver due to either: substance use (n = 498), mental health problems (n = 231), or both substance use and mental health problems (n = 305) were compared to youth without a reported impaired caregiver (n = 2282) to determine if impaired caregiver status is independently associated with increased likelihood of negative behavioral and mental health outcomes and service utilization after accounting for demographics and exposure to traumatic events. Youth with impaired caregivers compared to those without were more likely to display PTSD, emotional and behavioral problems, suicidality, self-injury, and substance abuse and had higher rates of service utilization (p < 0.05). Differential patterns were observed based on the type of caregiver impairment.

FINDINGS support the importance of family-centered assessment and intervention approaches for youth affected by trauma.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Caregiver impairment; Mental health; Risk behavior; Trauma