@article{ref1,
title="Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms in urban African schools. Survey in CapeTown and Nairobi",
journal="British journal of psychiatry",
year="2004",
author="Seedat, Soraya and Nyamai, C. and Njenga, F. and Vythilingum, B. and Stein, Dan J.",
volume="184",
number="",
pages="169-175",
abstract="BACKGROUND: There is a lack of comparative data on the prevalence and effects of exposure to violence in African youth. AIMS: We assessed trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress symptoms and gender differences in adolescents from two African countries. METHOD: A sample of 2041 boys and girls from 18 schools in CapeTown and Nairobi completed anonymous self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: More than 80% reported exposure to severe trauma, either as victims or witnesses. Kenyan adolescents, compared with South African, had significantly higher rates of exposure to witnessing violence (69% v. 58%), physical assault by a family member (27% v. 14%) and sexual assault (18% v. 14%). But rates of current full-symptom post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (22.2% v. 5%) and current partial-symptom PTSD (12% v. 8%) were significantly higher in the South African sample. Boys were as likely as girls to meet PTSD symptom criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Although the lifetime exposure to trauma was comparable across both settings, Kenyan adolescents had much lower rates of PTSD. This difference may be attributable to cultural and other trauma-related variables. High rates of sexual assault and PTSD, traditionally documented in girls, may also occur in boys and warrant further study.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0007-1250",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}