The findings appear in the August 2003 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Study lead author Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D. and colleagues from the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina were particularly struck by the prevalence of PTSD in the national sample of adolescents. "Nearly four percent of the boys (3.7 percent) and over six percent of the girls (6.3 percent) reported PTSD symptoms during the preceding six months, indicating that a high percentage of youth in the United States encounter traumatic events and experience significant emotional responses associated with these events," according to Dr. Kilpatrick.
The study also finds that within the six-month period prior to the telephone survey, prevalence for major depression was 7.4 percent for boys and 13.9 percent for girls, and prevalence for substance abuse/dependence during the past year was 8.2 percent for boys and 6.2 percent for girls. Nearly three fourths of all the adolescents who met the criteria for PTSD also met the criteria for major depression, substance abuse/dependence or both.
Interpersonal violence (i.e., sexual and physical assault, witnessed violence) increased the risk of PTSD, major depressive episode and substance abuse/dependence after controlling for demographic factors and family substance use problems, according to the study. This finding adds to the growing body of research establishing a link between interpersonal violence and mental health outcomes.
The risk for the mental health disorders increased with age; older adolescents met the criteria for the three diagnoses more often than the younger adolescents. However, the findings suggest that older adolescents also were more likely than younger adolescents to report family alcohol and drug use problems, witnessed violence, sexual assault, and physical assault, say the researchers.
Parental permission was obtained to interview the adolescents and the researchers took steps to increase the likelihood that the participants answered the study questions in an open and honest manner, including making sure the adolescents had privacy during the interview.
Additional research with longitudinal design is needed, say the authors, to capture patterns of adolescent victimization experiences and mental health problems over time, which will improve intervention efforts.
Source: American Psychological Association News Release.
