Psychosocial Problems Among Children of Parents with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Background: To assess the expression of psychosocial problems among childrenof parents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Material and methods:A group of 100 children of school age (from 10 to 5 years old) from two randomlychosen schools has been analyzed. Children from complete families whoseparents accepted psychometric measurement related to trauma have been chosen.Subjects were divided into two groups: a group of children whose parents express thesymptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)–experimental group (N=50) andgroup of children whose parents are not suffering from PTSD–control group (N=50).The assessment of PTSD symptoms and parental traumatisation is done by HarvardTrauma Questionnaire–version for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B H) (Allden et al.,1998), behavioral problems were assessed by Child Behavior Checklist – as reportedby parents (CBCL, Achenbach, 1991), the level of traumatisation and posttraumaticsymptoms in children by the Impact of Event Scale (Horowitz, Wilner, Alvarez, 1979),and neurotism and extraversion is estimated by Neurotism and Extraversion Scale(HANES). With regard to gender and parental participation the sample is homogenous.Data are processed by descriptive statistics method. Results: Children whose parentsare suffering from PTSD symptoms show statistically significant increase in behavioralproblems such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, thought problems, delinquent andaggressive behavior (p 0.001), anxiety/depression, attention deficit and problems insocial relations (p 0.005). Male subjects showed more prominent delinquent behavior(p 0.01). Children whose parents have PTSD symptoms show significantly expressedinternalisation (p 0.001) and higher level of stress (X2=23.528, p 0.001), compared tochildren of parents without PTSD. There is statistically significant difference regardingthe mean (M) of symptom groups among the analyzed groups of subjects related tothe symptoms of intrusion (p 0.01) and symptoms of avoidance (p 0.001). Significantlyexpressed neurotism is present in children of parents with PTSD (p 0.001).Conclusion: The results show that children of parents with PTSD express a significantbehavioral problems, higher level of neurotism, internalisations, posttraumatic stressreactions, symptoms of intrusion and avoidance as well as significantly higher level ofstress compared to children of parents without PTSD.