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
. 2021 Feb 6;33(2):188-194.
doi: 10.4103/tcmj.tcmj_123_20. eCollection 2021 Apr-Jun.

Gender differences in the association between social support and caregiver alcohol use in posttraumatic stress disorder of east Taiwan adolescents

Ching-Yi Kao  1 , Tyler Bradshaw  2 , Theodoris Mazarakis  2
Affiliations

Gender differences in the association between social support and caregiver alcohol use in posttraumatic stress disorder of east Taiwan adolescents

Ching-Yi Kao et al. Tzu Chi Med J. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigates traumatic experiences in a sample of high-risk Taiwanese adolescents in rural areas of Taiwan; correlation with psychosocial factors is assessed with focus on social support and caregiver alcohol use.

Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study using stratified cluster sampling. Structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic characteristics, social support (Taiwan Relationship Inventory for Children and Adolescents), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (Chinese version of UCLA-PTSD Reaction Index) from a sample of 751 adolescents (54.6% females) with 61.2% response rate in high schools in Hualien County, Taiwan.

Results: Girls with trauma experiences manifested significantly higher PTSD scores, concurrent with higher number of traumatic events (TE), while the likelihood of reporting trauma and subsequent PTSD symptoms was similar in both genders. Increased risk of reported trauma and PTSD in adolescent Taiwanese is strongly associated with caregiver alcohol use and lack of social support, particularly in girls.

Conclusion: We found that girls reported higher numbers of TE which was concurrent with significantly higher PTSD scores. Early detection of alcohol use disorders among caregivers as well as assessment of quality of family interaction would benefit at risk adolescents through specifically tailored interventions to address these factors.

Keywords: Caregiver alcohol use; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Social support; Taiwanese adolescents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Breslau N, Kessler RC, Chilcoat HD, Schultz LR, Davis GC, Andreski P. Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community: The 1996 Detroit Area Survey of Trauma. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55:626–32. - PubMed
    1. Jakob JM, Lamp K, Rauch SA, Smith ER, Buchholz KR. The impact of trauma type or number of traumatic events on PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity in treatment seeking veterans. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2017;205:83–6. - PubMed
    1. Agustini EN, Asniar I, Matsuo H. The prevalence of long-term post-traumatic stress symptoms among adolescents after the tsunami in Aceh. J Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs. 2011;18:543–9. - PubMed
    1. Panagioti M, Gooding PA, Triantafyllou K, Tarrier N. Suicidality and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2015;50:525–37. - PubMed
    1. Olff M. Sex and gender differences in post-traumatic stress disorder: An update. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2017;8:1351–204.

LinkOut - more resources