The effects of a natural disaster on child behavior: evidence for posttraumatic stress

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 83; no. 11; pp. 1549 - 1553
• Main Authors: Durkin, M S, Khan, N, Davidson, L L, Zaman, S S, Stein, Z A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01-11-1993; American Public Health Association
• Subjects: Aggression - psychology; Anxiety disorders; Bangladesh; Behavior; Behavior disorders; Biological and medical sciences; Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Child Behavior Disorders - etiology; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child clinical studies; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Disasters; Enuresis - epidemiology; Enuresis - etiology; Enuresis - psychology; Female; Floods; Humans; Hypotheses; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Shyness; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - complications; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - etiology; Tropical medicine; Young children; Asia; Bangladesh; Human; Flood; Posttraumatic syndrome; Disaster; Psychological effect; Child; Epidemiology; Public health; Behavioral disorder
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.83.11.1549

A prospective study of children examined both before and after a flood disaster in Bangladesh is used to test the hypothesis that stressful events play a causal role in the development of behavioral disorders in children.
Six months before the disaster, structured measures of selected behavioral problems were made during an epidemiological study of disability among 2- to 9-year-old children. Five months after the disaster, a representative sample of 162 surviving children was reevaluated.
Between the pre- and postflood assessments, the prevalence of aggressive behavior increased from zero to nearly 10%, and 45 of the 134 children who had bladder control before the flood (34%) developed enuresis.
These results help define what may be considered symptoms of posttraumatic distress in childhood; they also contribute to mounting evidence of the need to develop and evaluate interventions aimed at ameliorating the behavioral and psychological consequences of children's exposure to extreme and traumatic situations.