NCJ Number
220031
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 31 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 699-717
Date Published
July 2007
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined how traumatic and stressful events, responses to violence, child characteristics and mothering quality, as measured in middle childhood predicted psychological distress and positive resources in adolescence.
Abstract
Results of the study found that military violence in childhood formed risks for both increased psychological distress and decreased positive resources. However, it was found that cognitive capacity and personality were important determinants of psychological vulnerability in military trauma. Girls were found to be more vulnerable to psychological distress when facing war-related trauma than boys. Other findings suggest that girls are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety, whereas boys show aggressive and other externalizing symptoms, especially when exposed to severe military trauma. Participants were 65 Palestinian adolescents (17 years; 52 percent girls) living in Gaza who had been studied during the First Intifada (T1), during the Palestinian Authority rule (T2), and before the Second Al Aqsa Intifada (T3). Psychological distress was indicated by posttraumatic stress disorder, and depressive symptoms and positive resources by resilient attitudes and satisfaction with quality of life, all measured at T3. The predictors that were measured at T1 were exposure to military violence, active coping with violence, and children’s intelligence, cognitive capacity, and neuroticism. Mothering quality and stressful life-events were measured at T2, the former reported by both the mother and the child, and the latter by the mother. Tables, references