Citation

Gokcen C, Sahingöz M, Annagür BB. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2013; 22(5): 295-299.

Affiliation

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty of Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey, drcem78@hotmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00787-012-0348-8

PMID

23183912

Abstract

This study evaluated the prevalence and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adolescents who experienced non-destructive, moderate magnitude earthquake. Four hundred and fifty students (214 girls and 236 boys between the ages of 12-14) were selected from secondary schools located within Konya province in Turkey, 6 months after the earthquake. They were chosen to participate in this cross-sectional study by simple random sampling. The students were evaluated by the child posttraumatic stress reaction index. Of all the students, we found that 3.5 % had very severe, 20.8 % had severe, 28.4 % had moderate and 20 % had mild symptoms of PTSD and that 24.3 % had probable PTSD diagnoses. The most common PTSD symptoms were trauma-related fears, social avoidance, emotional detachment and the concentration difficulty. Limitations and implications for research studies are included in the discussion.

Language: en