What do Youth Report as a Traumatic Event? Toward a Developmentally Informed Classification of Traumatic Stressors

The aim of this study was to explore youth reports of traumatic events by 1) identifying the types of events that children and adolescents report as traumatic in their lives, 2) investigating the association between self reported traumatic events and self and parent reported emotional problems and 3) by examining developmental differences in the types and severity of the events reported as traumatic. Information regarding traumas and symptoms was collected from a sample of youth aged 6-17 using The Child PTSD Checklist. A coding system was developed for classifying the events reported. Findings suggest that youth reported a wide variety of experiences as traumatic that could be reliably coded and classified, and that youth reporting traumatic events and symptoms consistent with PTSD evidence higher levels of emotional, and behavioral problems (via parent and child report) than youth not reporting traumatic events. Youth aged 13-17 tended to report traumas that were rated by independent coders as more severe than youth aged 6-12. While the types of events reported did not differ in PTSD symptoms and other emotional, and behavioral problems there were differences in objective ratings of physical severity and psychological intensity. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the creation of developmentally informed classification of traumatic stressors.