Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Aug;195(2):142-8.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.054270.

Impact of childhood exposure to a natural disaster on adult mental health: 20-year longitudinal follow-up study

Alexander C McFarlane  1 , Miranda Van Hooff
Affiliations

Impact of childhood exposure to a natural disaster on adult mental health: 20-year longitudinal follow-up study

Alexander C McFarlane et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2009 Aug.

Erratum in

  • Br J Psychiatry. 2009 Oct;195(4):371

Abstract

Background: Studies examining the impact of childhood disaster exposure on the development of adult psychopathology report increased rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychopathology.

Aims: To examine the rates of PTSD and other lifetime DSM-IV disorders in adults exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster as children in 1983 using a matched control sample recruited at the time of the original study.

Method: A total of 1011 adults recruited from an original sample of 1531 were assessed 20 years following the fires using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-2.1).

Results: Results showed only a small direct impact of the fires on adult psychiatric morbidity. A higher proportion of bushfire survivors met criteria for 'any DSM-IV disorder' and ;any anxiety'.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that the long-term impact of a prominent trauma in childhood should be assessed in the context of other lifetime trauma in order to provide a more accurate account of PTSD prevalence rates.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types