Citation

Jensen PS, Richters J, Ussery T, Bloedau L, Davis H. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1991; 30(2): 303-309.

Affiliation

Child and Adolescent Disorders Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/00004583-199103000-00021

PMID

2016236

Abstract

Patterns of exposure to distinct types of life stressors were compared between 134 children attending a military child psychiatric clinic and a matched military community control sample. Compared with the community sample, clinic-referred children had experienced significantly higher levels of normative stressful events as well as events confounded with their own adjustment and events related to parental psychosocial functioning. Differences in levels of normative stressful events were no longer significant, however, when controlling for events related to parental functioning. Ratings of stressful events during the past year significantly underestimated the lifetime stress exposure differences between clinic and community control children. Although normative stressful events, parent-related events, and parent symptomatology ratings were significantly related to child behavior problem ratings, normative stressful events did not contribute to predictions of child behavior problems beyond the variance attributable to parent-related events and parent symptomatology. Implications of these findings for life stress and child maladjustment research are discussed.

Language: en