ARTICLES
Victimization and PTSD in a Danish National Youth Probability Sample

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ABSTRACT

Objective

To investigate the prevalence of traumatic events and life events in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Method

In a Danish national representative sample of 390 eighth-grade students with a mean age of 14.5 years, 20 prevalent potential traumatizing and distressing events were described, along with the psychological impact of these events.

Results

Eighty-seven percent of the females and 78% of the males were exposed to at least one event. The most common events were the death of a family member, threat of violence, or serious accidents. The most distressing subjective events were rape, suicide attempts, death in the family, serious illness, and childhood abuse. Gender, parents’ education, and living with a single parent were associated with specific events. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PSTD was 9.0%, whereas another 14.1% reached a subclinical level of PTSD. After exposure, females suffered from PTSD twice as often as males. Being exposed to multiple traumatic events was associated with an increase in PTSD.

Conclusion

The findings in this study suggest substantial mental health problems in adolescents who are associated with various types of victimization.

Section snippets

Subjects

The data in this study were collected from a questionnaire survey with a national representative probability sample of 390 youngsters aged 13 to 15. The sample was geographically stratified by 10 regions, with sample allocation proportionate to the Danish population distribution. Thirty schools that taught eighth-grade students were approached. Twenty-two schools accepted and participated (73.3% coverage). Each class consisted of 12 to 25 pupils (average 17.7), and an average of 0.9 pupils (95%

RESULTS

The most common event recorded (Table 1) was the death of a family member, followed by a threat of being beaten, humiliation or persecution by others, near-drowning, and traffic accident. Least prevalent were sexual abuse, rape, pregnancy/abortion, severe childhood neglect, and physical abuse. The prevalence of the indirect exposure to traumatic events was generally higher than the direct exposure. The most noticeable exception was the death of a family member, which seems to be more of a

DISCUSSION

While there has been widespread interest in studying victims of violence among adolescents, there seems to a remarkable lack of similar studies that include other types of victimization. According to Giaconia et al. (1995), there have been few community studies assessing the prevalence of a full range of trauma identified in the DSM-III-R or the corresponding rates of PTSD associated with these diverse types of trauma. This study revealed a larger number of traumatic and life events, including

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      It took approximately one and a half hour for the students to fill in the questionnaires. The exposure to PTE was assessed through a traumatic life events questionnaire (Elklit, 2002). This questionnaire was developed based on empirical and clinical literature, and it is comprised of life-threatening experiences (e.g., rape) and stressful family conditions (e.g., neglect).

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