Post-traumatic stress disorder in paediatric patients and their parents: an exploratory study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) in a selected population of paediatric patients and their parents. METHODOLOGY: Twenty-three high-risk patients (serious accidents, newly diagnosed cancer) and 11 low-risk patients (simple planned surgery) and their parents were consecutively selected and assessed 6-8 weeks after the event with a DSM-IV based diagnostic interview and the PTSD Symptom Scale. RESULTS: There is a high prevalence of PTSD in children and parents of the high-risk group. In the low-risk group such disorders are almost nonexistent. Parents in both groups report more PTSD symptoms than their children. Sex and age of the child and duration of hospitalisation have no significant influence on the development of PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of PTSD in high-risk paediatric patients and their parents offers support for the applicability of a post-traumatic stress model for understanding the psychological impact of accidents, severe illnesses and their medical treatment

How do different ways of measuring individual differences in zero-acquaintance personality judgment accuracy correlate with each other?

Objective: This research compares two different approaches that are commonly used to measure accuracy of personality judgment: the trait accuracy approach wherein participants discriminate among targets on a given trait, thus making intertarget comparisons, and the profile accuracy approach wherein participants discriminate between traits for a given target, thus making intratarget comparisons. We examined correlations between these methods as well as correlations among accuracies for judging specific traits. Method: The present ar ticle documents relations among these approaches based on meta-analysis of five studies of zero- acquaintance impressions of the Big Five traits. Results: Trait accuracies correlated only weakly with overall and normative profile accuracy. Substantial convergence between the trait and profile accuracy methods was only found when an aggregate of all five trait accuracies was correlated with distinctive profile accuracy. Importantly, however, correlations between the trait and profile accuracy approaches were reduced to negligibility when statistical overlap was corrected by removing the respective trait from the profile correlations. Moreover, correlations of the separate trait accuracies with each other were ver y weak. Conclusions: Different ways of measuring individual differences in personality judgment accuracy are not conceptually and empirically the same, but rather represent distinct abilities that rely on different judgment processes