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Cited by 233Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchChild Abuse and TraumaGrief, Bereavement, and Mental Health

Risk Factors for Long‐term Psychological Effects of a Disaster Experienced in Adolescence: Predictors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Udwin, Orlee, Boyle, Stephanie, Yule, William, Bolton, Derek, O'Ryan, Dominic·2000·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI 10.1111/1469-7610.00685
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Abstract

This paper examines risk factors for the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and its severity and chronicity, in a group of 217 young adults who survived a shipping disaster in adolescence. The survivors were followed up 5 to 8 years after the disaster. Risk factors examined fell into three main categories: pre‐disaster child and family vulnerability factors, including childhood psychopathology; objective and subjective disaster‐related experiences; and post‐disaster factors, including results from screening questionnaires administered 5 months post‐disaster, coping mechanisms adopted subsequently, life events, and availability of social supports. Developing PTSD following the disaster was significantly associated with being female, with pre‐disaster factors of learning and psychological difficulties in the child and violence in the home, with severity of exposure to the disaster, survivors' subjective appraisal of the experience, adjustment in the early post‐disaster period, and life events and social supports subsequently. When all these factors were considered together, measures of the degree of exposure to the disaster and of subjective appraisal of life threat, and ratings of anxiety obtained 5 months post‐disaster, best predicted whether survivors developed PTSD. For those survivors who developed PTSD, its duration and severity were best predicted not by objective and subjective disaster‐related factors, but by pre‐disaster vulnerability factors of social, physical, and psychological difficulties in childhood together with ratings of depression obtained 5 months post‐disaster, and whether survivors received post‐disaster support at school. The implications of these findings are considered for targeting assessment and intervention efforts at survivors most at risk of developing difficulties in adjustment following similar traumatic experiences.

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Authors
Udwin, O., Boyle, S., Yule, W., Bolton, D., & O'Ryan, D.
Affiliations
  • South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
  • King's College London (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2000-11
Volume
41
Issue
8
Pages
969-979
ISSN
  • 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7610
DOI
10.1111/1469-7610.00685
OpenAlex
W2010054003
Cited by
233
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
FWCI
5.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 1076 d)
Locations
  • Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, disaster survivors, adolescence, risk factors, childhood psychopathology, domestic violence, disaster exposure, coping strategies, social support, life events, depression, anxiety, young adults
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Child, Disasters, Female, Follow-Up Studies, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Prognosis, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Trauma Severity Indices, Incidence, Survivors

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