Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Bam-Survived Students Who Immigrated to Kerman, Four Months after the Earthquake

Background: The 6.3 Richter earthquake in Bam killed 26,000 and injured 30,000 people, and destroyed 85% of houses according to the literature. Children are affected more than others by disasters. In this study, we assessed the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological problems in survived Bam students in Kerman four months after the earthquake and their relations with demographic factors, family loss, house destruction, and body injury. Methods: A group of 433 students attended this cross sectional study. Watson post traumatic stress disorder questionnaire and Symptom Checklist-90 were applied for students older than 15 years of age and Yule post-traumatic stress disorder and Rutter (parentsʹ version) questionnaires were used for students younger than 15. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the effects of variables on psychopathologies. Results: Post-traumatic stress disorder was detected in 36.3% of the students older than 15 years of age and 51.6% of the students younger than 15. Behavioral problems were present in 31.3% of the children and the mean score of Global Symptom Index was 1.13±0.59. Body injury and living with family were correlated with post-traumatic stress disorder and Symptom Checklist-90 items in students older than 15. Female sex was correlated with post-traumatic stress disorder and behavioral problems in students younger than 15. Conclusion: The prevalence of post-disaster post-traumatic stress disorder was high in children. Younger age, female gender, living apart from family, geographic living conditions, being in the center of stress or not after the earthquake, body injury, and loss of family members form the basis for developing post-disaster psychopathology. Due to incomplete presence of post-traumatic stress disorder criteria or high rate of overlooking post-traumatic stress disorder in children, the disorder may be misdiagnosed or remain undiagnosed in them, which warrants more consideration.