Determinants of posttraumatic adjustment in adolescents from Sarajevo who experienced war

The purpose of this study was to examine risk and protective factors of postwar adjustment among adolescents from Sarajevo who have been exposed to war traumas during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. More specifically, we wanted to examine differential linkages between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and depression (as outcomes) and (a) war traumas, (b) individual and socioenvironmental factors, and (c) cognitive appraisals and coping mechanisms. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that dimensions of war traumas, individual characteristics, and cognitive appraisals and coping mechanisms play a significant role in determining who will have more serious PTSD symptoms. Although individual and socioenvironmental factors are the strongest predictors of depression, dimensions of war traumas also are significantly correlated with depressive symptoms. Common risk factors for more serious depression and PTSD symptoms in postwar adjustment were female gender and low optimism. While the strongest predictor of posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR) was trauma experience in the category of loss, the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms was female gender.