ABSTRACT
The effects of traumatic loss on children who reported a friend or acquaintance killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a federal office building were examined. Twenty-seven children who lost a friend or acquaintance and 27 demographically matched controls were assessed eight to ten months after the bombing. All but three of the children continued to experience posttraumatic stress symptoms. Those who lost a friend watched significantly more bombing-related television coverage than those without losses. Those who lost a friend had significantly more posttraumatic stress symptoms at the time of the assessment than those who lost an acquaintance. Parents and those working with children should be alert to the impact of loss even when it involves nonrelatives.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Death , Blast Injuries/mortality , Explosions , Interpersonal Relations , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Violence , Child , Female , Grief , Humans , Male , Oklahoma/epidemiology , Pilot Projects , Psychology, ChildABSTRACT
Presented a review of the influences of parental smoking and depression on physical, behavioral, and cognitive development of children. The negative relationship between smoking and child development has been shown to follow a dose-response relationship and to be independent of several important confounds. Likewise, parental characteristics, particularly depression, have also been shown to be related to both smoking and child development. Since cigarette smoking is also linked with depression, there are many unanswered questions regarding the interrelationship of these three factors. Research should use a biobehavioral model to address the issues related to parental influences on child development. Suggestions are made for such an approach to studying parental smoking and child development which addresses the overlap between depression and parental smoking and their influence on child maturation.