Posted
September, 2010
Associations
of Maternal PTSD and Depression
with
Problems of Preschoolers Exposed to the
World
Trade Center Attacks
Although
events such as the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks are apt
to be traumatic for people of all ages, research has shown
that preschoolers who had experienced other traumatic events
prior to the WTC attacks were more likely to develop behavioral/emotional
problems than children exposed only to the WTC events (Chemtob
et al., 2008, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine,
126, 126-132). In a further study of 116 preschoolers directly
exposed to the WTC events, Chemtob et al. (2010) analyzed
relations between maternal depression and PTSD, on the one
hand, and children's problem scores on the CBCL/1½-5
completed by their mothers and the C-TRF completed by their
preschool teachers, on the other. Differences in maternal
education and in time since the WTC attacks, as well as maternal
and child exposure to WTC traumas and other traumas were controlled
statistically. It was found that children whose mothers had
depression or both depression and PTSD were more likely than
other children to obtain elevated scores (i.e., in the combined
borderline and clinical range) on the Emotionally Reactive,
Anxious/Depressed, and Aggressive Behavior scales of the CBCL
and C-TRF. Children whose mothers had depression or depression
and PTSD were also more likely to obtain elevated scores on
CBCL Somatic Complaints and Sleep Problems (not scored on
the C-TRF) and on C-TRF Withdrawn and Attention Problems.
Furthermore, there was a "dose-response" relation
between children's ASEBA scores and classification of mothers
as having neither depression nor PTSD, depression only, or
both depression and PTSD: On all but the CBCL Sleep Problems
scale, children whose mothers had depression and PTSD obtained
the highest problem scores, followed by children whose mothers
had only depression and then by children whose mothers had
neither. The C-TRF results showed that the relations between
mothers' and children's psychopathology were borne out in
teachers' ratings, even though the teachers did not know about
the mothers' depression or PTSD. Although the study's cross-sectional
design could not determine whether maternal depression or
PTSD predated the WTC attacks, the findings demonstrated the
importance of parental psychopathology for understanding problems
among preschoolers who had all been exposed to the WTC events.
The authors concluded that co-occurring maternal depression
and PTSD may especially interfere with mothers' ability to
help their children cope and that research should focus on
ameliorating outcomes for mothers as well as for children
exposed to traumatic events.
Reference:
Chemtob,
C.M., Nomura, Y., Rajendran, K., Yehuda, R., Schwartz, D.,
& Abramovitz, R. (2010). Impact of maternal posttraumatic
stress disorder and depression following exposure to the September
11 attacks on preschool children's behavior. Child Development,
81, 1129-1141.
