The Structure Research Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms In The Adolescent Survivors Of Wenchuan Earthquake

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) is a mental health condition that may develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which severe physical harm occurred or was threatened.This study investigated the the underlying structure of PTSD symptoms in adolescents who were survived in Wenchuan earthquake. The study was conducted in Deyang middle school of Sichuan province with measures of PCL-5 and RCADS to evaluate the symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety in 743 students aging from 11-17 years. Study 1 aimed at comparing six competing phenotypic models of PTSD to find the the optimal model. Study 2 was to examine the correlations between factors in the best-fitting model of study 1 and external measures of panic disorder(PD) and major depressive disorder(MDD). The results of CFA indicated that the hybrid model which consists of intrusion, avoidance, negative affect, anhedonia, externalizing behaviors, anxious arousal and dysphoric arousal fitted the data better than other competing models. Further analysis revealed that the factors of negative affect, anhedonia, anxious arousal and dysphoric arousal related diversely with PD and MDD.The finding provided further support for 7-factor hybrid model of PTSD symptoms in DSM-5, enriched the limited knowledge of underlying structure of PTSD symptoms in youth group and had certain significance to further classification of PTSD symptoms, trauma-related research and clinical practice.