MOTHERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FOLLOWING THE INCIDENCE OF DISASTER AFFECTING THEIR CHILDREN

This study investigated the psychological adjustment of parents whose adolescent children had been involved in a disaster. Thirty-seven women whose adolescent children survived the "Jupiter" sinking in 1988 were studied. Comparison groups were: widows (N=18), and women who had suffered no major negative life-event (N=15). Measures includes the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia lifetime version (SADS-L) and various questionnaires. On measures of psychopathology, women whose children had been involved in the disaster presented with more symptomatology and adjustment problems than the women who had suffered no major negative life event but less than widows. This was greater in the subgroup of women whose children had developed post-traumatic stress disorder following the disaster than women whose children had not developed post-traumatic stress disorder following the disaster.

Keywords:

PTSD , disaster , parents , SADS , life event