Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ARTICLESPosttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents
Section snippets
Bereaved Participants
Parentally bereaved youths ranging from 7 to 17 years of age were recruited from 12 public schools located in suburban communities. Exclusionary criteria included (1) parental death occurring less than 6 months ago, (2) history of psychiatric disturbance or treatment, and (3) exposure to a natural disaster. These criteria were selected to control for initial bereavement reactions (Siegel et al., 1996), psychiatric disturbance, and exposure to natural disasters. School counselors who were
Group Differences
An ANOVA revealed no significant age differences between the bereaved, tornado, and nontrauma groups (see Table 1 for statistics). Chi-square tests revealed no significant group differences for sex, ethnicity, and parent's job type, but there was a significant difference for living in a reconstituted family, with more of the bereaved children living with a biological parent and a stepparent (χ22 = 7.20, p < .05). All 3 groups scored within normal limits on the CDI and the RCMAS and showed no
DISCUSSION
The death of a parent in childhood is a profound experience that can heighten the unpredictability of life and increase a child's risk for PTSD symptoms (Gibbs, 1989, Mireault and Bond, 1992). This was supported by parentally bereaved children reporting significantly more symptoms in the present study than children who experienced a fatal tornado or who were coping with a daily stressor. Other studies have revealed PTSD symptoms in bereaved children, but none have compared the children's
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2019, Journal of Affective DisordersCitation Excerpt :Consequences of bereavement may be particularly profound when the loss was traumatic and concerns a parent or other attachment figure (Melhem et al., 2011). Most children do not experience persistent psychopathology (Bonanno and Mancini, 2008), yet a significant minority develops symptoms of depression (Hamdam et al., 2012), posttraumatic stress (Stoppelbein and Greening, 2000), or persistent, disturbing grief (Melhem et al., 2013). The validity of disturbed grief as a distinct condition is increasingly recognized.
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2017, Psychiatry ResearchCitation Excerpt :Symptoms observed among these children include symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Stoppelbein and Greening, 2000) and Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD; e.g., Melhem et al., 2013). Bereavement-related PTSD is characterized by intrusive thoughts and images about, and avoidance of cues associated with circumstances of the loss (APA, 2013; Stoppelbein and Greening, 2000). PGD is characterized by pervasive separation distress, shock, disbelief, and a changed worldview (Boelen and Smid, 2017; Prigerson et al., 2009).
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2012, Journal of Anxiety DisordersCitation Excerpt :Only a handful of studies in the fields of disaster management and bereavement in general have reported the prevalence rates of PTSD and depression among bereaved survivors following sudden unexpected death of loved ones (Fullerton, Ursano, Kao, & Bharitya, 1999; Goenjian et al., 2009; Kristensen, Weisaeth, & Heir, 2009; Kuo et al., 2003; Schut, de Keijser, Van den Bout, & Dijkhuis, 1991; Yuan et al., 2009). Even so, these studies were mainly conducted among general bereaved adults with different types of bereavement including loss of a parent, spouse, child, or sibling (Kristensen et al., 2009; Kuo et al., 2003; Morina, Rudari, Bleichhardt, & Prigerson, 2010; Yuan et al., 2009), bereaved children who have lost their parents (Goenjian et al., 2009; Stoppelbein & Greening, 2000), or bereaved adults who have lost their spouse due to accidents (Schut et al., 1991). The estimated rates of PTSD and depression among older bereaved people facing spousal loss have also been reported in the literature (Elklit & O‘Connor, 2005; O‘Connor, 2010).
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