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Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Preschool Children in Foster Care: The Influence of Placement and Foster Family Environment
Author(s) -
Vasileva Mira,
Petermann Franz
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.22217
Subject(s) - foster care , coping (psychology) , foster parents , psychology , clinical psychology , traumatic stress , posttraumatic stress , injury prevention , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , medicine , psychiatry , medical emergency , nursing
Children in foster care often experience traumatic events which increase their risk for posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Until now, no research has investigated the developmentally sensitive PTSS criteria for preschoolers among children in foster care. The current study estimated the prevalence of potentially traumatic experiences and clinical PTSS in German foster care children aged 3 to 7 years. The foster parents of 324 children completed questionnaires about children's PTSS, foster parental stress, parenting, and family functioning. Linear regression models tested trauma‐related variables, placement history, and foster family characteristics as predictors of PTSS. Approximately 45.4% of the foster children had experienced at least one traumatic event and 15.4% had clinical PTSS. Physical abuse, β = .34, p < .001; hospitalization, β = −.17, p = .026; witnessing someone being hurt, β = −.15, p = .047; and parental stress, β = .43, p < .001, were significantly associated with PTSS. Results demonstrate the impact the foster family has on children who are coping with trauma, and suggest the necessity of trauma‐sensitive trainings for foster parents, with stress management as an important component.