Risk factors for suicide attempts in the total population of Faroese eighth graders

Objectives: Suicide is still one of the leading causes of youth mortality, and amongst others previous suicide attempts have been found to be one of the strongest risk factors for suicide. The objective of this study is to examine risk factors of suicide attempts in a total population of Faroese adolescents. It is expected that anxious attachment, high scores on negative affectivity and low scores on past and present social support were correlated to an increased risk of life-time suicide attempts in both female and male adolescents.Method: Analyses were conducted based on data from The Faroese Adolescent Trauma Study, a self-report questionnaire survey including a total population of Faroese eighth graders (N = 687; 85 % response rate, mean age 14.2 years, SD = 2.1). The questionnaire included The Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), The Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC), and The Crisis Support Scale (CSS).Results: In the total population 9.9 % (N = 68) of the participants reported life-time suicide attempt; of those 28 % were boys and 72 % were girls. In line with the expectations, the initial comparison showed that adolescents reporting life-time suicide attempt had significantly higher scores on attachment anxiety and negative affectivity, and had significantly lower scores on attachment closeness, and both past and present social support. Further analyses stratified on gender, however, revealed unexpected results, as a high score on negative affectivity only was a significant risk factor for life-time suicide attempt among the girls, and high score on attachment closeness only was a significant protective factor of life-time suicide attempt among the boys.Conclusions: This study provides important data about the role of attachment, negative affectivity, and social support in suicide attempts in a total population of Faroese adolescents. Moreover the results show the necessity of taking gender into account in research of risk and protective factors of suicide attempts, and when establishing arrangements to prevent and treat suicide attempts in adolescents

The relationship between child maltreatment and exposure to traumatic events during later adolescence and young adulthood

Abstract Objective: The present study investigated the relationship between different types of childhood maltreatment (emotional abuse, sexual abuse, multiple abuse types, and no abuse) and the occurrence of later traumatic events during later adolescence and young adulthood. Method: Data were collected from a Danish national study conducted by The Danish National Centre for Social Research in 2008 and 2009. A sample of 4718 young adults who were 24 years old was randomly selected using the total birth cohort of children born in 1984. A structured interview was conducted during which participants were asked about a range of traumatic and abusive experiences. Results: A response rate of 63% was achieved for a total sample size of 2980. Chi-squared analyses revealed significant relationships between all child maltreatment groups and direct exposure to 10 of the 13 traumatic events; there were also significant relationships between all child maltreatment groups and indirect exposure to 12 of the 13 traumatic events. Conclusion: The results showed that childhood maltreatment was associated with increased risk of exposure to traumatic events, both directly and indirectly, during adolescence and young adulthood. The findings of this study suggest there is an increased risk of being exposed to both direct and indirect traumas during later adolescence and young adulthood after any form of child maltreatment

Predictive factors for somatization in a trauma sample

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Unexplained somatic symptoms are common among trauma survivors. The relationship between trauma and somatization appears to be mediated by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, only few studies have focused on what other psychological risk factors may predispose a trauma victim towards developing somatoform symptoms. Methods: The present paper examines the predictive value of PTSD severity, dissociation, negative affectivity, depression, anxiety, and feeling incompetent on somatization in a Danish sample of 169 adult men and women who were affected by a series of explosions in a firework factory settled in a residential area. Results: Negative affectivity and feelings of incompetence significantly predicted somatization, explaining 42 % of the variance. PTSD was significant until negative affectivity was controlled for. Conclusion: Negative affectivity and feelings of incompetence significantly predicted somatization in the trauma sample whereas dissociation, depression, and anxiety were not associated with degree of somatization. PTSD as a risk factor was mediated by negative affectivity

Gender, trauma type, and PTSD prevalence: a re-analysis of 18 nordic convenience samples

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine a possible trauma type related variance in the gender difference of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence. METHODS: An analysis was conducted on 18 convenience sample studies including data from a total of 5220 participants. The studies all applied the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire – part IV to assess PTSD. Cohen’s d was used to measure variance in gender differences. Trauma types included disasters and accidents, violence, loss, chronic disease and non-malignant diseases. RESULTS: The results showed an overall gender difference in PTSD prevalence similar to previous findings. Thus, women had a two-fold higher prevalence of PTSD than men. Besides categorical analyses, dimensional analyses of PTSD severity were also performed; the latter were associated with twice as large effect sizes. Females were more vulnerable to PTSD after disasters and accidents, followed by loss and non-malignant diseases. In violence and chronic disease, the gender differences were smallest. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the existence of a trauma type related variance in gender differences in PTSD prevalence

MØDET MED DET ONDE I ET PSYKOTRAUMATOLOGISK PERSPEKTIV

En afgørende kerneoplevelse for mange voldsofre er mødet med gerningsmandens intention om at skade, kvæste eller dræbe ofret. Dette møde resulterer i en række psykologiske reaktioner, hvoraf nogle er fælles for en række traumatiske begivenheder, mens andre er specifikke for den proces, hvor nye skemaer akkommoderes, som kan integrere begrebet om »personlig ondskab « i ofrets basale grundantagelser. Vigtige temaer i bearbejdningen af mødet med det onde er kapaciteten til at forsvare sit liv i en livstruende situation og potentialet for selv at rumme en ondskab af samme omfang som gerningsmandens. Teorier om tilknytning, kontroltab, sekundær traumatisering og kognitiv bearbejdning bidrager til forståelsen af de komplekse forhold, der fremkommer i mødet med det onde

Modeling Patterns of Negative Life Events and Mental Health in Faroese Adolescents

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify naturally occurring typologies of Faroese adolescents on the basis of their exposure to traumatic and negative life events. It was hypothesized that underlying typologies of trauma and negative life events would be uncovered. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that males would be overrepresented in classes characterized by the endorsement of a wide range of trauma and negative life events. On the basis of prior research, it was also hypothesized that females had endorsed more traumas of a sexual nature and that males had endorsed more traumas of a violent nature. Finally, post-traumatic stress, negative affectivity, and somatization were examined in the different typologies.Methods: Latent class analyses were conducted with the use of data collected from a self-report questionnaire survey from 687 Faroese eighth graders (85% response rate). The questionnaire included a traumatic and negative life event list, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire—Part IV, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist.Results: Three classes of adolescents were identified on the basis of their exposure to potentially traumatic and negative life events. The baseline class (81.3%) had a low probability of the endorsement of all potentially traumatic and negative life events, except threats of violence and bullying. This group had low scores for post-traumatic symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Class 2 (13.7%) comprised mainly males and had the highest probability of endorsement of threats of violence, physical assault, and bullying; this group also had high scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Finally, Class 1 (5.0%) consisted of adolescents with a relatively high risk of exposure to all potentially traumatic events and negative life events, except threats of violence. This group had the highest scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization.Conclusions: The present study can be said to be a concise picture of trauma exposure and its consequences among Faroese adolescents, and it is thereby a valuable tool for the national planning of preventive and interventional strategies and for empirically founded economic prioritization. These results emphasize the importance of choosing a trauma-informed strategy in various disciplines, such as pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, and school psychology when the aim is to provide the appropriate intervention

Children’s coping styles and trauma symptoms after an explosion disaster

Background: The negative impact of trauma on children and adolescents is well documented. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between coping and trauma and distress symptoms after man-made disasters, especially those not related to war. Objective: This study investigated the relationship between children’s coping styles and their self-reported levels of trauma and distress symptoms after an explosion disaster in a residential area. Method: Participants were recruited through the local public school that served the affected residential area. A total of 333 children and adolescents from grades 3 through 10 participated in the study 16 months after the explosion. All participants filled out questionnaires to assess their trauma and distress symptoms as well as their coping strategies. The adolescents answered additional questions about pre-, peri-, and post-traumatic factors and filled out questionnaires about their trauma and distress symptoms, including aspects of somatization and negative affectivity. Results: The following variables were associated with a higher degree of trauma symptoms for children in grades 6 through 10 and explained 39% to 48% of the unique variance in these symptoms: female gender; the experience of traumatic events pre-disaster; the destruction of property or danger to life occurring during the disaster; the experience of traumatic events post-disaster; and the use of self-blame, emotion regulation, wishful thinking, and cognitive restructuring. For the younger children, pre-, peri-, and post-disaster factors were not measured. However, female gender and the use of self-blame as a coping strategy explained 26% of the variance in trauma symptoms. Conclusions: This study generally supports the findings of the limited literature addressing coping skills after man-made disasters. However, contrary to previous findings in community samples after episodes of terrorism, adaptive coping strategies such as cognitive restructuring were found to influence the variance of trauma and distress symptoms