title: Adolescent distress in traumatic stress research: data from the National Survey of Adolescents-Replication.
abstract: Small numbers of adults report distress in response to traumatic stress surveys. Less is known about adolescent research participants. We examined distress in response to a survey on traumatic stress using data from the National Survey of Adolescents-Replication, a nationally representative sample of 3,614 youth aged 12-17 years. Although 204 (5.7%) adolescents found some questions distressing, only 8 (0.2%) remained upset at the end of the interview, and 2 (<0.1%) wished to speak to a counselor. Adolescents reporting traumatic experiences or mental health problems were significantly more likely to report distress compared to those not endorsing such problems. Significantly more girls (7.5%) reported distress than boys (3.9%). Findings suggest that survey questions about trauma pose minimal risk to adolescents.
authors.affiliation: National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. zajac@musc.edu
authors.forename: Kristyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zajac
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.forename: Daniel W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Benjamin E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: Dean G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kilpatrick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States