TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - A meta-analysis of risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents
JO  - Clinical psychology review
A1  - Trickey, David
A1  - Siddaway, Andy P.
A1  - Meiser-Stedman, Richard
A1  - Serpell, Lucy
A1  - Field, Andy P.
SP  - 122
EP  - 138
VL  - 32
IS  - 2
N2  - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex and chronic disorder that causes substantial distress and interferes with social and educational functioning. Consequently, identifying the risk factors that make a child more likely to experience traumatic distress is of academic, clinical and social importance. This meta-analysis estimated the population effect sizes of 25 potential risk factors for PTSD in children and adolescents aged 6-18years across 64 studies (N=32,238). Medium to large effect sizes were shown for many factors relating to subjective experience of the event and post-trauma variables (low social support, peri-trauma fear, perceived life threat, social withdrawal, comorbid psychological problem, poor family functioning, distraction, PTSD at time 1, and thought suppression); whereas pre-trauma variables and more objective measures of the assumed severity of the event generated small to medium effect sizes. This indicates that subjective peri-trauma factors and post-event factors are likely to have a major role in determining whether a child develops PTSD following exposure to a traumatic event. Such factors could potentially be assessed following a potentially traumatic event in order to screen for those most vulnerable to developing PTSD and target treatment efforts accordingly. The findings support the cognitive model of PTSD as a way of understanding its development and guiding interventions to reduce symptoms.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0272-7358
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2011.12.001
ID  - ref1
ER  -