Sp. Cuffe et al., PREVALENCE OF PTSD IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF OLDER ADOLESCENTS, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(2), 1998, pp. 147-154
Objective: To examine prevalence and correlates of trauma and posttrau
matic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and diagnosis in older adolescen
ts aged 16 through 22 years. Method: The second cycle of a longitudina
l epidemiological study in the Southeast included a semistructured int
erview assessing PTSD symptomatology administered to 490 adolescents.
Results: Approximately 3% of female subjects and 1% of male subjects s
atisfied the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. Females reported more traumatic
events than males, and black subjects reported more events than white
subjects. Being female (odds ratio = 12.32), experiencing rape or chi
ld sexual abuse (odds ratio = 49.37), and witnessing an accident or me
dical emergency (odds ratio = 85.02) were associated with increased ri
sk of PTSD. Conclusions: While relatively few adolescents satisfy the
criteria for PTSD, most subjects who experienced a traumatic event rep
orted some PTSD symptoms. Specific types of traumatic events were asso
ciated with occurrence of PTSD.