title: Post-traumatic growth of children affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and their attitudes to memorial services and media coverage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Post-traumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive changes that result from coping with a major life crisis or a traumatic event. Factors influencing PTG in youth have not been well characterized but could have a great impact on overall maturation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourth to ninth graders (n = 3337) attending elementary or junior high schools located in a district severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake completed a questionnaire, including the revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R) along with the Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms for Children 15 items (PTSSC-15), 31 months after the event. Experience of the disaster, prior traumatic experiences, and attitudes toward memories of the disaster (rumination) were scored by their caregivers and teachers, and effects of these factors on PTG were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant associations between PTGI-C-R and sex or experiences of the disaster. However, PTGI-C-R was negatively correlated with age (r = -0.132, P < 0.001). There was significant but very weak negative correlation between PTGI-C-R and PTSSC-15 among the children (r = -0.096, P < 0.001). PTGI-C-R was significantly associated with positive attitudes to memorial services (P < 0.001) and media coverage (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Positive attitudes to deliberate rumination may facilitate PTG in children following natural disasters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Miyagi Prefecture Comprehensive Children's Center, Natori, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Natsuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Nami
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Miyagi Prefecture Comprehensive Children's Center, Natori, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.affiliation: Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomita
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D005655:Funeral Rites; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology*; D057192:Tsunamis
keywords: Great East Japan Earthquake; children; disaster; media coverage; post-traumatic growth