title: Parental injury and psychological health of children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how parental injury affects the psychological health and functioning of injured as well as uninjured children.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 175 parent-child dyads treated at a regional trauma center in 4 groups: parent and child both injured in the same event, child-only injured, parent-only injured, and neither parent nor child met criteria for significant injury. The preinjury health and functioning of parents and children were assessed with follow-up at 5 and 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents who were injured themselves showed higher levels of impairment in activities of daily living, quality of life, and depression at both follow-up assessments than parents who were not injured. Children in dyads with both parent and child injured had the highest proportion of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at both 5 and 12 months. In addition, children with an injured parent but who were not injured themselves were more likely to report PTSD symptoms at 5 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were bidirectional effects of parental and child injury on the outcomes of each other. Injuries to the parent negatively affected the health-related quality of life of the injured children, over and above the effect of the injury itself on the child. Of great concern is the effect of parental injury on risk of stress and PTSD among uninjured children in the home.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics,Epidemiology,The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; andSeattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington fpr@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Frederick P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Rivara
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics,Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Carolyn A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: McCarty
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine, and.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shandro
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics,The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; and.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; andPsychiatry, and.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zatzick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: PTSD; injury; quality of life; trauma