Posted
September, 2010
Resilience
and Psychopathology among
Former
Ugandan Child Soldiers
Of
the adverse conditions faced by children, one of the most
appalling is the conscription of tens of thousands of children
to serve in armed conflicts. In order to help former child
soldiers, it is necessary to identify their particular problems
and strengths, plus associated risk and protective factors.
Although outcomes of very adverse experiences are often viewed
through the lens of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
the variety of conditions experienced by child soldiers, as
well as their developmental and other personal characteristics,
argue for broader perspectives on outcomes. In a study that
assessed resilience as well as psychopathology, the YSR, DSM
diagnostic interviews, and measures of traumatic experiences,
stressors, resilience, and social and spiritual support were
administered by Ugandan interviewers to 330 former Ugandan
soldiers at ages 11-17 (Klasen et al., 2010). Although Ugandan
norms were not available for the YSR, the researchers used
the YSR's Group 2 multicultural norms, because scores for
the YSR normative sample from nearby Ethiopia qualified for
the Group 2 norms. Based on multiple criteria, 27.6% of the
330 Ugandan youths were identified as having resilient outcomes,
as defined by not manifesting PTSD nor other major psychopathology.
Of the 72.4% who did not have resilient outcomes, 33% met
DSM criteria for PTSD, an additional 17.9% met criteria for
major depressive disorder, and most obtained YSR Total Problems
scores in the clinical range. The mean YSR Total Problems
score for the nonresilient youths was more than 2 standard
deviations above the mean for the Group 2 multicultural norms
and more than twice as high as the mean Total Problems score
for the resilient youths, whose mean was close to the mean
for the Group 2 norms. Compared to the nonresilient youths,
the resilient youths had significantly less exposure to violence
in their homes following their military experience, lower
guilt cognitions, less motivation to seek revenge, higher
family socioeconomic status, and more perceived spiritual
support. As only 33% of the nonresilient youths actually met
criteria for PTSD and many manifested psychopathology that
did not correspond to PTSD criteria, the authors concluded
that "the concept of PTSD does not fully capture the
reaction to repeated and prolonged interpersonal trauma of
child soldiers and may be better described by concepts such
as developmental trauma disorder" (p. 1107).
Reference:
Klasen,
F., Oettingen, G., Daniels, J., Post, M., Hoyer, C., &
Adam, H. (2010). Posttraumatic resilience in former Ugandan
child soldiers. Child Development, 81, 1096-1113
