Gender Differences in PTSD in Israeli Youth Exposed to Terror Attacks

Abstract

Differences between boys' and girls' exposure to terror and posttraumatic symptoms were examined in a sample of 2,999 Israeli adolescents. Gender differences were also assessed regarding perceived social support, religious beliefs, and ideological commitment. Results indicate that girls reported more posttraumatic symptoms than boys, although boys reported twice the rate of very severe symptoms. Differences were also found between boys and girls in levels of fear, religiosity, ideological commitment, and social support, but not regarding exposure. Path analysis revealed that gender is not a direct predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, it does have an indirect effect, especially through fear, which was the best predictor of PTSD. Social extrinsic religiosity and ideological intolerance were positive predictors of PTSD. The study concludes that gender differences in PTSD are largely the result of differences in levels of fear and are not due to differences in political ideology, religiosity, or social support.

Bullying and PTSD Symptoms

“…The chance of falling within the clinical range for PTSD symptoms was about twice as high for girls as for boys. Our findings support our expectation that the level of PTSD symptoms would be higher among the girls, and is in accordance with earlier studies which have found higher risk for girls developing PTSD after trauma (Bokszczanin 2007;Laufer and Solomon 2009). Meta-analyses have demonstrated that females are more likely to meet criteria for PTSD although they are less likely to experience traumatic events (Brewin et al 2000).…”

“…The central question in our study was, however, to investigate to what extent we would find an association between bullying and PTSD symptoms. Since girls have a higher risk than boys of developing PTSD following trauma (Bokszczanin 2007;Laufer and Solomon 2009) we also expected to find higher levels of PTSD symptoms among bullied girls. Because research suggests that greater frequency of trauma exposure is associated with greater likelihood of scores within a clinical PTSD range (Thabet et al 2004) we expected to find a relation between the frequency of exposure to bullying and PTSD symptoms.…”

Mental Health and Posttraumatic Growth in Civilians Exposed to Ongoing Terror

“…This questionnaire was constructed for the present study on the basis of an instrument that was developed in Hebrew and was used in previous studies (Itzhaky & Dekel, 2005;Laufer & Solomon, 2009). The questionnaire aimed to examine the prevalence of exposure to different types of terror incidents among the participants.…”

Gender Disparities Among Veterans: The High Rate of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Women in the Military

“…The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) of the American Psychiatric Association (2013) states that the diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event and subsequent symptoms from each of four symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidance symptoms, negative alterations in mood and cognition, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. PTSD is one of the most common anxiety disorders (Laufer & Solomon, 2008). Awareness of the prevalence of PTSD has grown substantially over the past decade due to the ongoing return of veterans from multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan (Workman, 2009).…”