Posttraumatic stress symptoms in Croatian children exposed to war: A prospective study (original) (raw)
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Posttraumatic symptomatology in children exposed to war
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2000
This study examines affective and behavioral symptomatology in two groups of school-age children who were traumatized to different degrees during the war in Croatia (N 1034). Six self-reported questionnaires were used to assess the following: number and type of war experiences, PTSD symptoms, anxiety, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and psychosocial adaptation. Canonical discriminant analysis yielded a significant discriminant function that indicates moderate differentiation between the two groups of children according to the assessed symptoms. The results of a 2  2  2 ANOVAs (gender  age  level of traumatization) indicate that the children's reactions to war traumata varied in respect to all factors, as well as their interaction. The results indicate that gender differences are more prominent in older children. Older girls report more posttraumatic stress reactions, anxiety and depression, but at the same time seem better adapted than boys. Younger children, particularly those who survived more war even report more PTSD symptoms than older children.
War Exposure Among Children from Bosnia-Hercegovina: Psychological Adjustment in a Community Sample
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2002
As part of a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) psychosocial programme during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, data were collected from a community sample of 2,976 children aged between 9 and 14 years. Children completed standardized self-report measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and grief, as well as a report of the amount of their own exposure to war-related violence. Results showed that children reported high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and grief reactions. However, their self-reported levels of depression and anxiety were not raised. Levels of distress were related to children's amount and type of exposure. Girls reported more distress than boys, but there were few meaningful age effects within the age band studied. Results are discussed in the context of service development for children in war.
Determinants of posttraumatic adjustment in adolescents from Sarajevo who experienced war
Journal of Clinical …, 2003
The purpose of this study was to examine risk and protective factors of postwar adjustment among adolescents from Sarajevo who have been exposed to war traumas during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. More specifically, we wanted to examine differential linkages between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and depression (as outcomes) and (a) war traumas, (b) individual and socioenvironmental factors, and (c) cognitive appraisals and coping mechanisms. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that dimensions of war traumas, individual characteristics, and cognitive appraisals and coping mechanisms play a significant role in determining who will have more serious PTSD symptoms. Although individual and socioenvironmental factors are the strongest predictors of depression, dimensions of war traumas also are significantly correlated with depressive symptoms. Common risk factors for more serious depression and PTSD symptoms in postwar adjustment were female gender and low optimism. While the strongest predictor of posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR) was trauma experience in the category of loss, the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms was female gender.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2001
As part of a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) psychosocial programme during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, data were collected from a community sample of 2,976 children aged between 9 and 14 years. Children completed standardized self-report measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and grief, as well as a report of the amount of their own exposure to war-related violence. Results showed that children reported high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and grief reactions. However, their self-reported levels of depression and anxiety were not raised. Levels of distress were related to children's amount and type of exposure. Girls reported more distress than boys, but there were few meaningful age effects within the age band studied. Results are discussed in the context of service development for children in war.
Psychological consequences of war-traumatized children and adolescents in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Acta Medica Academica, 2011
Research into the psychosocial consequences of war and political violence on children's and adolescent's developmental wellbeing has shown a steady increase over the last decades. Numerous studies, from differing cultures in different war zones around the world, have documented the effect on children of exposure to war atrocities. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) 1992-1995, at the end of 20 th century found the citizens of BH and the world mental health professionals and scientists unprepared to deal with the adverse consequences for the entire BH population and especially for its most vulnerable part, children and adolescents, to be able to take adequate measures of sufficient mental health care to prevent devastating consequences of severe multiple traumas. Only a few research studies were done during and after this war in BH, the United States, Sweden, Norway, the UK and Germany focusing on the relationship between war trauma, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, suicidal thoughts, acculturation, repatriation, poverty, behavioral problems, school adjustment, relational problems of children and their mothers after deployment of war PTSD veterans and war prisoners, and treatment of psychological consequences in examined children and adolescents from BH. The major part of this paper reviewed available literature on Medline that reported national and international studies which investigated the psychological consequences of war on BH children and adolescents and several papers about children and adolescents from Srebrenica, that were not indexed on Medline, but showed very crucial results for the issue described.
The Central European Journal of Paediatrics, 2011
Objective – To estimate the frequency, type and severity of psychological trauma, the severity of post-traumatic stress symptom clusters and the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) refugee and internally displaced adolescents after the 1992-1995 war. Subjects and Methods – The sample of 217 pupils (106 females) aged of 15.1±2.1 years consisted of three groups of participants originating from different geographical regions of northeastern BH: Srebrenica (n=69), Zvornik (n=79), and Bijeljina (n=69), who were exposed to war traumas in the 1992-1995 war and were forced to leave their homes and property throughout the war and after it. The war trauma experiences, PTSD symptom severity and PTSD prevalence in the adolescents were evaluated using the Bosnia-Herzegovina version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Results – The severity level of PTSD symptoms and social dysfunction was most severe in Srebrenica, then in Zvornik...
Objective. To estimate frequency, type and severity of the psychological trauma, severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms’ clusters and prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) refugee and internally displaced adolescents after the war 1992-1995. Subjects and Methods. The sample of 217 pupils (106 females) aged of 15.1±2.1 years consisted from three groups of participants originated from different geographical regions from north-eastern BH: Srebrenica (n=69), Zvornik (n=79), and Bijeljina (n=69), who were exposed to the war catastrophes in the 1992-1995 war and were forced to leave their homes and property during the whole war and after it. War trauma experiences, PTSD symptoms severity and PTSD prevalence of adolescents were evaluated with Bosnia-Herzegovina version of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Results. The severity level of PTSD symptoms’ and social dysfunction was most severe in Srebrenica, than in Zvornik and finally in Bijeljina group. The prevalence of PTSD statistically significantly differed between Srebrenica group (73.9%), Zvornik group (60.8%) and Bijeljina group of respondents (47.6%) (χ²test =9.854, df=2, p=0.007). Conclusions. There were regional variations in Bosnia-Herzegovina warfare. Refugee and internally displaced adolescents suffer very frequently from PTSD 3.5 years after war. The most difficult war trauma was in surviving adolescents from Srebrenica, than Zvornik and finally from Bijeljina. PTSD prevalence is highly reported and significantly differed between groups. Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Srebrenica, Zvornik, Bijeljina, Adolescents, Refugees, Exile, PTSD.
European Psychiatry, 2012
To estimate neuroticism and its relationship with psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) refugee and internally displaced adolescents after the 1992-1995 war. Subjects and methods-A sample of 217 pupils (108 females and 109 males) aged 15.1±2.1 years was divided into three groups from the northeastern BH regions: Srebrenica (n=69), Zvornik (n=79), and Bijeljina (n=69), who were exposed to the trauma of the 1992-1995 war and became refugees or internally displaced persons for the duration of the whole war and after it were evaluated for assessment of war trauma, the presence of PTSD, neuroticism, and its associations. Data collection took place in June 1999 in the classrooms of the adolescents' schools, with the written permission of the Tuzla Canton Ministry for Culture, Sport and Education. Results-Srebrenica pupils were significantly more introverted. The prevalence of PTSD differed statistically significantly between the groups: Srebrenica (73.9%), Zvornik (60.8%) and Bijeljina (47.6%)(Chi-squ-are=9.854, df=2, p=0.007). The PTSD prevalence, PTSD symptoms and social dysfunction were the most severe in Srebrenica, then in Zvornik and finally in the Bijeljina group. In the Srebrenica group neuroticism was significantly associated with PTSD cluster symptoms and problems in social functioning. Adolescents with PTSD, in all three groups and in the whole sample, were more neurotic. Loss of father significantly increased introversion of the adolescents in all three groups, and decreased the adolescents' sociability in Zvornik and Bijeljina. Conclusions-Refugee and internally displaced adolescents from Bosnia-Herzegovina suffered very frequently from PTSD 3.5 years after war. The PTSD prevalence is highly reported and differed significantly between groups. PTSD associated positively with neuroticism and introversion. Loss of father significantly increased the adolescents' introversion in all three groups, and it decreased the adolescents' sociability in Zvornik and Bijeljina.