Research conducted with the best available assessment instruments shows that a significant minority of children and adolescents develop PTSD after trauma exposure, with those exposed to interpersonal trauma and girls at particular risk. The estimates provide a benchmark for DSM-5 and ICD-11.

Background Lockdown policies related to the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic has potential negative consequences for mental health in youths. Methods Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed in 3 572 adolescents, age 13 to 16 using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-10), in a representative longitudinal survey of Norwegian youths between February 2019 (T1) and June 2020 (T2). Predictors for symptom change were analysed with linear mixed-effects models. Findings Overall, clinical levels of anxiety and depression increased slightly from 5.5% at T1 to 6.3% at T2; Chi square 224.4 ( df = 1), p<.001. However, the observed change was driven by the increase in age between assessments. Being a girl, having pre-existing mental health problems, and living in a single-parent household at T1, predicted higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms at T2 (p<.001). Living in a single-parent household was associated with a significant increase in symptoms, also when age was controlled for (p<.001). Living in a poor family however, or having a history of maltreatment, was associated with a significantly lower increase in symptoms (p<.001). Interpretation Anxiety and depressive symptoms increased slightly in Norwegian youths between 2019 and 2020, but this change seemed to be driven by increase in age rather than pandemic-related measures. Symptom levels were unevenly distributed across demographic groups both before and during the pandemic outbreak, indicating that health disparities persist for adolescents in risk groups during a pandemic . Health inequities related to living conditions need to be addressed in future action plans, and intensified measures to mitigate inequities are needed. Funding The study was funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Adolescents and Family affairs (Bufdir).

Posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma, has garnered significant attention in the literature on adults. Recently, the research base has begun to extend downward, and this literature indicates that youth also evidence PTG-like changes. Researchers have sought to assess the construct, examine its correlates, and understand the factors that contribute to PTG in youth. Drawing from this work, this article considers clinical implications for youth. After briefly describing the PTG construct, its hypothesized process, and its distinction from resilience, the article focuses on key themes in the literature and, with those findings as backdrop, ways in which professionals can facilitate growth in youth who have experienced trauma. This discussion situates PTG within the broader trauma literature and includes specific applications used to date as well as the role of cultural factors. Future directions--salient to practitioners and researchers alike--are considered.

This study investigated the degree to which parental symptomatology and characteristics of the family environment related to posttraumatic growth (PTG) among children and adolescents who had been directly exposed to the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. One hundred five 6- to 17-year-olds (M = 11.9 years, SD = 3.3) and their parents (N = 67) were interviewed approximately 10 months and 2 years 5 months after the tsunami. The parents' self-reported PTG was a significant predictor of PTG in their children, suggesting that social processes play a role in the development of PTG in youth. Parental self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms did not predict PTG in their children nor did youth's ratings of family cohesion, but parental tsunami-related sick leave related to lower levels of PTG reported by their children. Overall, these findings imply that elements of parents' functioning can affect children's positive adaptation after a disaster and highlight the need to assess potential parental influences and those of other sources of support in the child's environment after trauma. Attending to such factors holds salience for efforts to promote adaptation and facilitate PTG.

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