Memory Bias for Emotional Information in Children and Adolescents with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Preliminary Study
Section snippets
Participants
The clinical group comprised 24 children and adolescents (13 boys and 11 girls), aged 9 to 17 years, who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, criteria for a primary diagnosis of PTSD (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). All of the participants with PTSD were involved in either road traffic or personal violence events (not including abuse or domestic violence) in the 2 years before the study and were recruited through clinicians of the Psychology
Results
As Table 1 shows, there were no significant differences between the groups for age, verbal intelligence quotient, or reading ability, but the PTSD group, as expected, scored significantly higher on the measures of depression, t(47) = 3.55, p < .001, and anxiety, t(47) = 3.25, p < .001 (both one tailed). The groups were comparable in terms of sex ratio, χ2 < 1. Posttraumatic stress disorder participants' scores on the Revised Impact of Event Scale were comparable with studies of child survivors
Discussion
The present study sought to investigate memory for emotionally negative, emotionally positive, and neutral information in groups of children and adolescents with PTSD and matched control participants using a computerized recall and recognition test of memory for word lists.
The results indicated that overall, as predicted, the PTSD group recalled fewer words than the control participants. There was also a significant interaction effect as predicted, with the PTSD group recalling more negative
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