Mothers' functioning and children's symptoms 5 years after a SCUD missile attack

Objective: The authors assessed the longterm consequences of the SCUD missi le attack in Israel on children as a function of their mothers' psychologic al functioning, family cohesion, and the event itself. Method: Five years after the Gulf War, the authors assessed the internalizi ng, externalizing, stress, and posttraumatic symptoms of 81 children aged 8 -10 years whose homes were damaged in the SCUD missile attack, as well as g eneral and posttraumatic symptoms, defensive style, and object relations in their mothers. Results: There was a significant decrease in severity in most symptom domai ns and an increase in avoidant symptoms in the children. Greater severity o f symptoms was associated with being displaced, living in a family with ina dequate cohesion, and having a mother with poor psychological functioning. The association between the symptoms of children and mothers was stronger a mong the younger children. Posttraumatic symptoms increased in one-third of the children and decreased in one-third over the last 30 months of the stu dy. Severe posttraumatic symptoms were reported in 8% of the children. Conclusions: Despite a continuous decrease in symptom severity, risk factor s identified shortly after the Gulf War continued to exert their influence on children 5 years after the traumatic exposure.