Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on March 3, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2006 31(4):397-402; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj005
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The Role of the Family in Child and Adolescent Posttraumatic Stress Following Attendance at an Emergency Department
1 Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, 2 MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and 3 Accident and Emergency Department, Kings College Hospital
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Richard Meiser-Stedman, Department of Psychology (P77), Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom. E-mail: r.meiser-stedman{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk.
Received June 30, 2004; revisions received August 27, 2004, October 8, 2004, and December 30, 2004; accepted January 24, 2005
Objective To evaluate the role of family factors in posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) in children and adolescents who have attended an emergency department following assaults or motor vehicle accident. Methods Children and their parents completed self-report questionnaires and semistructured interviews relating to their psychopathology and cognitive styles at 24 weeks and 6 months after trauma. Results Parental depression was correlated with child PTSS at each assessment point. Less consistent findings were observed for family functioning. Parental endorsement of worry was a correlate of child PTSS at each assessment and a mediator between parental depression and child PTSS. Conclusions A role for family factors, in particular parental depression and parental endorsement of worry, in the development of child PTSS is supported. Weaknesses of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are given.
Key words: children; parents; PTSD.