Tools
ToolsMcGuire, Rosie, Hiller, Rachel M., Ehlers, Anke, Fearon, Pasco, Meiser-Stedman, Richard, Leuteritz, Sophie and Halligan, Sarah L. (2021) A longitudinal investigation of children's trauma memory characteristics and their relationship with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49 (6). 807–816. ISSN 2730-7166
Preview |
PDF (Published_Version)
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (838kB) | Preview |
Abstract
While trauma memory characteristics are considered a core predictor of adult PTSD, the literature on child PTSD is limited and inconsistent. We investigated whether children’s trauma memory characteristics predict their posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) at 1 month and 6 months post-trauma. We recruited 126 6–13 year olds who experienced a single-incident trauma that led to attendance at an emergency department. We assessed trauma memory disorganisation and sensory-emotional qualities through both narrative recall and self-report questionnaire, and PTSS at 1-month post-trauma and at 6-month follow-up. We found that, after controlling for age, children’s self-reported trauma memory characteristics were positively associated with their concurrent PTSS, and longitudinally predicted symptoms 6-months later. However, observable trauma memory characteristics coded from children’s narratives were not related to PTSS at any time. This suggests that children’s perceptions of their trauma memories are a more reliable predictor of the development and maintenance of PTSS than the nature of their trauma narrative, which has important implications for clinical practice.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | memory,narrative,posttraumatic stress,trauma,psychiatry and mental health,developmental and educational psychology,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2738 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Mental Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health) |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jan 2021 00:55 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Oct 2025 21:31 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/78243 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10802-021-00773-5 |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |