Sixty years later: post-traumatic stress symptoms and current psychopathology in former German children of World War II.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to determine the amount of trauma impact, post-traumatic stress symptoms and current psychopathological distress in a sample of former German children of World War II.


METHODS
93 participants were recruited through the local press, and assessed using the modified Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) and the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R).


RESULTS
Subjects reported a high qualitative and quantitative degree of trauma exposure. 13.8% reported PTSD-related symptoms after the war, and 10.8% reported current symptoms. PTSD symptoms after World War II were significantly correlated with current psychopathological distress.


CONCLUSIONS
In line with other studies, our data document a high degree of trauma exposure during warchildhood. In comparison with other studies on PTSD in warchildren, there is a persisting high prevalence of war-associated PTSD symptoms in this sample. Despite some methodological limitations, our data underline the urgent need for further studies on the ageing group of former children of World War II.
Kuwert
Philipp
P
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Stralsund, Germany. kuwert@uni-greifswald.de
Spitzer
Carsten
C
Träder
Anna
A
Freyberger
Harald J
HJ
Ermann
Michael
M
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047789:World War II