TY - JOUR
T1 - A longitudinal investigation of children’s trauma memory characteristics and their relationship with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms
AU - McGuire, Rosie
AU - Hiller, Rachel
AU - Ehlers, Anke
AU - Fearon, Pasco
AU - Meiser-Stedman, Richard
AU - Leuteritz, Sophie
AU - Halligan, Sarah
PY - 2021/2/3
Y1 - 2021/2/3
N2 - While trauma memory characteristics are considered a core predictor of adult PTSD, the literature on child PTSD is limited and inconsistent. We investigated whether children’s trauma memory characteristics predict their posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) at 1 month and 6 months post-trauma. We recruited 126 6-13 year olds who experienced a single-incident trauma that led to attendance at an emergency department. We assessed trauma memory disorganisation and sensory-emotional qualities through both narrative recall and self-report questionnaire, and PTSS at 1-month post-trauma and at 6-month follow-up. We found that, after controlling for age, children’s self-reported trauma memory characteristics were positively associated with their concurrent PTSS, and longitudinally predicted symptoms 6-months later. However, observable trauma memory characteristics coded from children’s narratives were not related to PTSS at any time. This suggests that children’s perceptions of their trauma memories are a more reliable predictor of the development and maintenance of PTSS than the nature of their trauma narrative, which has important implications for clinical practice.
AB - While trauma memory characteristics are considered a core predictor of adult PTSD, the literature on child PTSD is limited and inconsistent. We investigated whether children’s trauma memory characteristics predict their posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) at 1 month and 6 months post-trauma. We recruited 126 6-13 year olds who experienced a single-incident trauma that led to attendance at an emergency department. We assessed trauma memory disorganisation and sensory-emotional qualities through both narrative recall and self-report questionnaire, and PTSS at 1-month post-trauma and at 6-month follow-up. We found that, after controlling for age, children’s self-reported trauma memory characteristics were positively associated with their concurrent PTSS, and longitudinally predicted symptoms 6-months later. However, observable trauma memory characteristics coded from children’s narratives were not related to PTSS at any time. This suggests that children’s perceptions of their trauma memories are a more reliable predictor of the development and maintenance of PTSS than the nature of their trauma narrative, which has important implications for clinical practice.
KW - trauma
KW - memory
KW - narrative
KW - posttraumatic stress
U2 - 10.1007/s10802-021-00773-5
DO - 10.1007/s10802-021-00773-5
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
SN - 0091-0627
ER -