title: Posttraumatic stress symptoms in parentally bereaved children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare parentally bereaved children with a disaster comparison group and a nontrauma control group on measures of emotional adjustment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children and adolescents who had lost a parent (n = 39), had experienced a tornado disaster (n = 69), or were coping with an ongoing social or academic stressor (n = 118) completed measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Risk factors for symptoms among the bereaved children also were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parentally bereaved children reported significantly more PTSD symptoms than the disaster and nontrauma control groups. Among the bereaved children, girls, younger children, and children living with a surviving parent who scored high on a measure of posttraumatic stress reported more symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children and adolescents who have lost a parent could be vulnerable to PTSD symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa 35487-0348, USA. legreeni@gp.as.ua.edu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stoppelbein
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Greening
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001601:Bereavement; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*