Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is known to cause substantial distress and disruption to social functioning. With a lifetime prevalence of around 9% in adolescent populations, the disorder constitutes a significant public health problem. In a recent metaanalysis of children and adolescents aged 6-18 years it was concluded that only a limited number of risk factors, such as age and gender, have systematically been investigated in adolescents. This analysis also found that studies on risk factors which have previously been identified as important in adult populations had rarely been replicated with adolescent populations. Of the 64 studies reviewed in the metaanalysis only four investigated social support, while three investigated peritraumatic fear, two examined negative self-perceptions and eight considered previous traumas. Trickey et al. thus highlighted the need for further investigation of these four risk factors in adolescent samples, to develop a more reliable risk profile for PTSD in this population. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the effect of each of these four risk factors on PTSD, and moreover, to examine the effect of self-perceptions according to the type of trauma.

• Share this page
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•