Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and their Comorbidity with Other Disorders in Eleven to Sixteen Years Old Adolescents in the City of Bam

The aim of this study was to assess the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the comorbidity of depression, anxiety, anger and dissociation with PTSD based on gender difference between two groups of earthquake-stricken boys and girls in the city of Bam and comparing it with normal adolescents in Tehran. One thousand 11-16 year old students (300 boys and 700 girls) in the city of Bam selected using multi-step cluster sampling in two educational levels as the experimental group, and 3042 eleven to sixteen year old students from Tehran as the control group were examined. Data were gathered using Syndrome Checklist for Children (form A) and Interview form of Post Trauma Stress Scale (interview form). Data were then analyzed using correlation, independent t, chi-square (c2), and Kruskal Wallis. Adolescents who had experienced the traumatic events showed higher levels of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, anger and dissociation in comparison with normal adolescents (p<0.01). In the group with PTSD, frequency of all PTSD symptoms except anger symptoms was higher in girls than in boys. However, the frequency of pathological syndromes (T>65) was more evident in boys than in girls, but was non-significant. The prevalence of PTSD in the experimental group was 20%. There is a high comorbidity between symptoms of PTSD and other symptoms, which leads to a higher report of PTSD prevalence. Even though psychological vulnerability was higher in boys than in girls, it seems that gender role expectance in the expression of emotions and the method of describing the symptoms play a role in this issue.