Study IDs childhood risks for traumatic stress

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young adults are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing a traumatic event if they had high levels of anxiety and depression as first-graders, a new study shows.

And having aggressive or disruptive behavior problems in first grade increased the risk of being the victim of "assaultive" violence, such as being mugged or badly beaten up, Dr. Naomi Breslau of Michigan State University in East Lansing and colleagues found.

In contrast, first-graders with the highest levels of reading readiness were less likely to experience assaultive violence as young adults.

Most people are exposed to at least one traumatic event that could provoke PTSD, Breslau and her team note, but fewer than 10 percent of people develop PTSD after such an event.

To better understand how behavior in childhood might affect later PTSD risk, the researchers followed 1,698 children from their entry into first grade to age 21. During the course of the study, 82.5 percent had experienced at least one traumatic event that could lead to the development of PTSD, while 47.2 percent had been subject to at least one instance of assaultive violence.

The incidence of traumatic events rose after the study participants reached age 15, and was highest among 16- to 18-year-olds.

Children whose teachers had rated them as having aggressive/disruptive behavior in first grade were 2.6-times more likely to have been exposed to assaultive violence by age 21, the researchers found, but were no more likely to develop PTSD as a result of the trauma.

However, youths who had rated themselves as having high levels of depressive and anxious feelings as first-graders were 50-percent more likely to develop PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event.

The researchers also found that children scoring in the top quartile for reading readiness in first grade were less likely to experience violence than those with lower scores.

Children's behavior in first grade is a better gauge of their predispositions than assessment in adolescence, when their behavior has begun to result in responses that may reinforce it, Breslau and her team note.

"The results suggest potential risk factors for PTSD that can be identified early in life and might be amenable to interventions," they conclude.

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, January 2007.