ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: A natural disaster negatively affects children's emotional and behavioral adjustment. The purpose of this paper was to examine the prevalence, symptoms, and correlates of PTSD after the occurrence of Typhoon Rusa. METHOD: 261 elementary school children living in Kimcheon, which was a devastated rural area in South Korea by Typhoon Rusa, were selected. Data were collected 4 months after the disaster using the PTSD Reaction Index categories recommended by Frederick, severity of PTSD. RESULT: 12.3% of the children had either moderate or severe PTSD symptoms; 22.7% reported mild symptoms; and the remaining 65% had sub-clinical symptoms of PTSD. The most frequent symptom was recurrenct fear(67.0%). 13% to 17.2% of children exhibited difficulty in concentration, sleep disturbance, and guilt feeling. The regression model of severity of PTSD was composed of the level of exposure to traumatic experiences, grade in school, gender, negative coping style, and social support, and explained 34.3% for PTSD symptoms. Exposure to traumatic experiences was the strongest factor of all predictors. CONCLUSION: Emotional support from friends and coping style were correlated with PTSD severity. School-based interventions that emphasizes coping with disaster related problems and problem-solving may prove to be useful, and may aid in building close and supportive ties with teachers, classmates, and friends.
Subject(s)
Child , Female , Humans , Male , Adaptation, Psychological , Attitude to Health , Psychology, Child , Disasters , Friends/psychology , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Korea/epidemiology , Life Change Events , Models, Psychological , Prevalence , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Regression Analysis , Rural Health , School Health Services , Self Care/methods , Severity of Illness Index , Social Support , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , SurvivorsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The rates, correlates, and factor structure of depressive symptoms in a Korean rural sample were examined using Korean version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale(CES-D). METHODS: Door to door visiting survey was conducted by trained interviewers. A random cluster sample of 1,315 respondents, aged 30 and over completed the CES-D scale along with additional sociodemographic questionnaires. RESULTS: In this sample, mean CES-D score of male and female were 7.8 and 9.5, respectively, which were lower than those reported previously. Symptoms of depression were most common among the less educated, non-married and female according to ANCOVA. Age was not a significant risk factor for depressive symptoms. Different factor structures emerged from this sample as compared to other studies using this approach. Somatic symptoms and affective symptoms were combined as one factor and emotional hardship emerged as a separate factor. CONCLUSIONS: Symptom scores and risk factors were similar to the results reported in other countries but unique factor structures were found in this study. Further research is needed about the Korean depressive symptomatology and related areas.