title: A prospective study on the association between caregiver psychological symptomatology and symptom clusters of pediatric posttraumatic stress disorder.
abstract: This study investigated the influence of caregiver psychological symptoms on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in traumatized children. One-hundred eleven children and caretakers were assessed in this study. Children (N = 59) with a history of exposure to interpersonal violence were evaluated for reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, and hyperarousal symptom clusters using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA). The 52 primary caregivers were evaluated using the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) on 9 domains of psychological symptomatology: anxiety, depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, paranoid ideation, phobic anxiety, psychoticism, and somatization. At 14-month follow-up, 45 of the children were re-evaluated with the CAPS-CA. Caregiver psychological symptoms in the domains of anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and paranoid ideation were associated with less improvement in total pediatric PTSD symptoms. Analysis of PTSD symptoms by cluster showed that greater caregiver symptomatology in the domains of anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, and obsessive-compulsive disorder were associated with less improvement in the hyperarousal symptom cluster. These results suggest caregiver symptomatology may be specifically associated with hyperarousal symptoms in pediatric trauma.
authors.affiliation: Early Life Stress Research Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA94305, USA.
authors.forename: Shane Shucheng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Hilit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kletter
authors.forename: Yukwal
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Victor G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Carrion
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*