Citation

Hambrick EP, Vernberg EM, Greenhoot AF, Hendrickson ML. J. Child Adolesc. Trauma 2018; 11(2): 227-239.

Affiliation

4Department of Psychology, Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, Jackson Health System, University of Miami, Miami, FL USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40653-017-0199-z

PMID

32318152

PMCID

PMC7163809

Abstract

Trauma recollections often contain trauma-related cognitive and emotional processing. Research examining indicators of such processing in children's trauma recollections and their association with mental health symptoms is limited. Fifty 8 to 12-year-old children provided two open-ended recollections about (1) challenging/"bad" things and (2) positive/ "good" things that happened to them 1-year post experiencing an EF-5 tornado. Children completed exposure and mental health symptom measures (PTSD, anxiety, depression). Transcripts were coded for indicators of processing: coherence, positive and negative emotion terms, and resolutions. Age, gender, SES, family tornado-related discussion frequency, verbal ability, tornado-specific psychotherapy receipt, and exposure were controlled. Coherence and positive emotion were positively associated and resolutions were negatively associated with mental health symptoms when children discussed the "bad" things. Children's processing and mental health symptoms were unrelated when children discussed the "good" things. The measured indicators of children's processing may reflect children's meaning-making efforts and have implications for adjustment.

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2017.

Language: en

Keywords

Children; Cognitive processing; Emotional processing; Meaning-making; Mental health; Natural disaster; Recollections; Trauma