Citation

McDermott B, Berry H, Cobham V. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Psychiatry 2012; 46(2): 109-117.

Affiliation

1Mater Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0004867411433950

PMID

22311527

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate a new social connectedness factor and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children who experienced a cyclone disaster. Method: Three months post-disaster school-based screening for PTSD was conducted. 804 children (mean age=10.22 years, SD=1.24) participated. 12.0% of children reported severe or very severe PTSD symptoms. Results: Low connected children, adjusted for age, gender and independent of cyclone exposure and threat perception, were 3.96 times more likely to experience severe to very severe PTSD. A structural model of child PTSD indicated that connectedness was the most important factor explaining variance in children's symptomatology. The final model accounted for 60% of the variance of child PTSD scores. Conclusions: We conclude that child connectedness is a new, significant, independent factor in a model of post-disaster child PTSD. Connectedness may represent a vulnerability factor that can be targeted preventatively in children in disaster-prone regions. Conversely, a pre-disaster intervention that helps children develop high connectedness may have the potential to confer resilience.

Language: en