title: A prospective test of the association between hyperarousal and emotional numbing in youth with a history of traumatic stress.
abstract: Investigated the hypothesis that emotional numbing may develop as a result of hyperarousal using a prospective design. Forty-two children between the ages of 7 and 14 with a history of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA; Nader et al., 1996) and were reassessed 1 year later. Results indicated that hyperarousal symptoms were concurrently positively correlated with emotional numbing at both time points. Moreover, Time 1 hyperarousal symptoms were associated with emotional numbing at Time 2 and predicted Time 2 emotional numbing even when controlling for each of the other symptom clusters of PTSD at Time 1 as well as other concurrent (i.e., Time 2) PTSD symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of the findings for enhancing the understanding of PTSD symptoms in youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148, USA. cweems@uno.edu
authors.forename: Carl F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Weems
authors.forename: Kasey M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Saltzman
authors.forename: Allan L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.forename: Victor G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Carrion
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*