Posttraumatic Stress Among Young Children After the Death of a Friend or Acquaintance in a Terrorist Bombing

The effects of traumatic loss on children who reported a friend or acquaintance killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a federal office building were examined. Twenty-seven children who lost a friend or acquaintance and 27 demographically matched controls were assessed eight to ten months after...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 386 - 388
Main Authors:	Pfefferbaum, Betty, Gurwitch, Robin H., McDonald, Nicholas B., Leftwich, Michael J. T., Sconzo, Guy M., Messenbaugh, Anne K., Schultz, Rosemary A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Psychiatric Publishing 01-03-2000 American Psychiatric Association
Subjects:	Anxiety disorders Attitude to Death Biological and medical sciences Blast Injuries - mortality Child Child clinical studies Explosions Female Grief Humans Interpersonal Relations Male Medical sciences Oklahoma - epidemiology Pilot Projects Psychology, Child Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology Violence United States North America America Oklahoma Human Consumption Social environment Posttraumatic syndrome Anxiety disorder Stress Friendship Symptomatology Follow up study Evolution Death Mass media Mourning Child
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Summary:	The effects of traumatic loss on children who reported a friend or acquaintance killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a federal office building were examined. Twenty-seven children who lost a friend or acquaintance and 27 demographically matched controls were assessed eight to ten months after the bombing. All but three of the children continued to experience posttraumatic stress symptoms. Those who lost a friend watched significantly more bombing-related television coverage than those without losses. Those who lost a friend had significantly more posttraumatic stress symptoms at the time of the assessment than those who lost an acquaintance. Parents and those working with children should be alert to the impact of loss even when it involves nonrelatives.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1075-2730 1557-9700
DOI:	10.1176/appi.ps.51.3.386