Is young age a risk factor for PTSD?

What is it about?

Although a large number of studies have investigated age differences in PTSD-symptoms, results remain inconclusive. One reason for the mixed findings may be that studies have investigated victims of different trauma types only one time after their trauma happened - and this time point vary from immediately after to decades later. In this study, we investigated age differences in adult victims of the same devastating hurricane. We measured PTSD-symptom levels both 1.5 and 7 months after the hurricane made landfall. We found younger participants to show higher PTSD-levels at both time points after controlling for how severe their hurricane experience was and how central they perceived the hurricane experience to be to their life story and identity. Interestingly, young adults over time increased how severely they described their hurricane experience to be.

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Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Research on age differences in PTSD-symptoms is important in both identifying vulnerable populations who may be in particular need of support after traumatic events, but also in understanding how PTSD-develops. The findings that youth was associated with higher levels of PTSD-symptoms, together with the findings that young participants described their hurricane experience in more severe ways over time, suggest that cognitive processes in youth are associated with increased risk of developing PTSD after traumatic events.

Perspectives