@article{ref1,
title="Trajectories of tornado-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and pre-exposure predictors in a sample of at-risk youth",
journal="Journal of consulting and clinical psychology",
year="2019",
author="McDonald, Kristina L. and Vernberg, Eric M. and Lochman, John E. and Abel, Madelaine R. and Jarrett, Matthew A. and Kassing, Francesca and Powell, Nicole and Qu, Lixin",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: The current study examined how severity of disaster exposure and predisaster individual and family characteristics predicted trajectories of disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in children over 4 years following a devastating EF-4 tornado. <br><br>METHOD: Participants (<i>n</i> = 346; 65% male; 77.5% African American) were 4th-6th-graders and their caregivers, from predominantly low-income households, who were already participating in a longitudinal study of indicated prevention effects for externalizing outcomes when the tornado occurred in 2011. Latent class trajectory analyses were used to identify disaster-related PTSS trajectory groups across the 4-year postdisaster period. <br><br>RESULTS: Three groups were identified: (1) a group that declined (recovery) in PTSS over time (15.90%); (2) a group that was stable and low in PTSS over time (76.87%); and (3) a group that was stable and high (chronic) in PTSS over time (7.23%). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that greater tornado exposure predicted membership in the declining trajectory group relative to the low-stable group. Positive parenting and pretornado caregiver trauma exposure also moderated how disaster exposure, particularly perceived life threat, predicted PTSS trajectories. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Some youth reported elevated disaster-related PTSS repeatedly for 4 years following a devastating tornado. Consistent with the concept of equifinality, results suggest that there are several pre-exposure risk factors that may increase risk for a chronic PTSS trajectory following disaster exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-006X",
doi="10.1037/ccp0000432",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000432"
}