Posttraumatic stress symptoms and related factors among preschool children who experienced the Ludian earthquake / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms among preschool children and its related factors after the Ludian earthquake.Methods:A total of 62 children's guardians were visited.They were interviewed with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Semi-Structured Interview for Infants and the Young Children and the Child Behavior Checklist-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (CBCL-PTSD) consisted of 15 items from the CBCL.All of the participantsresided in Longtoushan settlement and Longtoushan town (the epicenter).They were randomly visited from west to east in that region.Results:The rate of scored 9 (or more) on the CBCL-PTSD among children was 51.9％ (27/52) in 1-2 months after the earthquake.However,based on the Semi-Structured Interview,the rate of the children's posttraumatic stress symptoms was 26.9 ％ (14/52).The numbers of posttraumatic stress symptoms,intrusion symptoms,avoidance symptoms,hyperarousal symptoms,the new symptoms and the CBCL-PTSD scores were positively correlated (0.30-0.73,P ＜0.05),except the relation between intrusion symptoms and hyperarousal symptoms.The rate of intrusion symptoms was significant higher among those who experienced earthquake than those who didn't (96.2％ vs.60.0％,P ＜0.01).And the rate of intrusion symptoms was also higher among those who was injured during the earthquake than those who wasn't (100％ vs.84.6％,P ＜ 0.05).And the other symptoms were not difference in children under different conditions (P ＞ 0.005).Conclusion:The preschool children who experienced earthquake or were injured suffer more posttraumatic stress symptoms.