Association between posttraumatic stress disorder and preflood behavioral characteristics among children aged 7-15 years in Hunan, China

To explore the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and preflood behavioral characteristics among children aged 7-15 years in Hunan, China. In 2000, a retrospective study was carried out among children who had been exposed to the 1998 floods in Hunan. A multistage sampling method was used to select subjects from the flood-affected areas. A structured questionnaire administered to the children selected was used to diagnose PTSD based on the DSM-IV criteria. A parent questionnaire was used to measure preflood behavioral characteristics related to health, behavioral, and habit problems. The association between PTSD and preflood behavioral characteristics was assessed using chi[2]-tests and multivariate logistic regression. A total of 7,038 children from 13,450 households, aged 7-15 years, were investigated. The overall prevalence of PTSD was 2.05%. Generally, the PTSD-positive rate increased with increasing scores for behavioral characteristics. Preflood behavioral characteristics are an important factor influencing the prevalence of PTSD among children exposed to floods. It is therefore necessary to give special attention to children with behavioral problems in order to reduce the psychological impact of floods

Employment-related anxiety and depression in senior college students in China / 中南大学学报(医学版)

Objective To examine the association of employment-related events with depression and anxiety in senior college students in China.Methods Altogether 1321 senior college students were recruited from Central South University and the survey was administered anonymously. Anxiety and depression were assessed with the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), respectively. Employment-related events were reflected by the employment-related options when students were surveyed. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of employment-related events on anxiety and depression.Results We collected 1178 valid questionnaires. Taking 50 and 16 as the cutting-point of SAS and CES-D, we found 18.9% and 55.4% of the participants showed symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively. After controlling confounding factors, those students who had taken the entrance exam of graduate schools and were optimistic for the result, those who had taken the entrance exam of graduate schools but were pessimistic for the result, and those who neither took the entrance exam of graduate schools nor received a job offer, had a higher risk of anxiety than those who would attend a graduate school without exam, and the odds ratios were 2.5, 2.3, and 3.5, respectively. For students' depression, the odds ratios of the three categories mentioned above were 2.0, 1.5, and 2.6, respectively. Conclusion Senior college students who face bad employment-related events are at a higher risk of anxiety and depression.