title: Latent structure of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in an adolescent sample one month after an earthquake.
abstract: Increasing empirical studies suggest that the tripartite posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) model described in the DSM-IV does not accurately account for the underlying PTSD factor structure, and several alternative models have been proposed. The present study investigated a newly refined, five-factor model of PTSD symptoms in a sample of Chinese adolescent survivors of an earthquake. A total of 1198 middle school students (653 females, 526 males) with a mean age of 14.4 years (SD = 1.1, range: 11-18) participated in this study one month after an earthquake. The novel five-factor model comprised of intrusion, avoidance, numbing, dysphoric arousal, and anxious arousal demonstrated significantly better fit than two alternative four-factor models. Further analyses revealed differentiable relations between the PTSD factors and external measures of anxiety and depression. These findings provide empirical support for the robustness of five-factor model, and carry implications for further reorganization of PTSD criteria.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Richu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhongquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chengqi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Zhanbiao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014175:Translating
keywords: Adolescents; Child PTSD symptom scale; China; Factor structure; Posttraumatic stress disorder