title: Impact of political violence on the mental health of school children in Egypt.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since the beginning of the Egyptian political conflict, Tahrir Square has been the epicentre of intense political violence. Students attending schools located near this square witnessed and/or directly experienced the consequences of a series of violent events.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study will investigate the presence of psychiatric symptoms in children attending these schools to explore patterns of responses according to their perceptions of the revolution on their lives, adjusted for, gender and socio-economic status.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted with 515 Egyptian school children attending government, experimental, and private language schools located within 1 km of Tahrir Square. To assess psychiatric symptoms in these children, a specially designed questionnaire was used to detect, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and impairments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children attending schools near Tahrir Square showed high rates of depression, PTSD and anxiety symptoms. The risk factors identified for developing psychiatric symptoms were a negative perception of the effect of the revolution, knowing someone exposed to trauma during the events, female gender and low socio-economic class.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results highlight the need for large-scale studies to explore the consequences of ongoing political violence on children and to establish baseline data on the mental health of Egyptian children.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Suaad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moussa
authors.affiliation: b Department of Community Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Monira El
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kholy
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Dalia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Enaba
authors.affiliation: c Department of Public Health , Research Institute of Ophthalmology , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Khadiga
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: b Department of Community Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Asmaa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasreldin
authors.affiliation: d Department of Community Environment & Occupation Medicine , Ain Shams University , Cairo , Egypt .
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gabal
authors.affiliation: e Department of Psychiatry , BaniSuef University , BaniSuef , Egypt , and.
authors.forename: Maha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emadeldin
authors.affiliation: f Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences , College of Medicine, UAE University , Al ain , United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Hamdy F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Moselhy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D000068337:Armed Conflicts / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004534:Egypt; D000069581:Exposure to Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011057:Politics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Anxiety; Egypt; PTSD; depression; political conflict; violence