An Item-Based Analysis of PTSD Emotional Numbing Symptoms in Disaster-Exposed Children and Adolescents
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An Item-Based Analysis of PTSD Emotional Numbing Symptoms in Disaster-Exposed Children and Adolescents Gen Li 1,2 & Li Wang 1,2 Jon D. Elhai 6
&
Chengqi Cao 3 & Ruojiao Fang 1,2 & Chen Chen 1,2 & Xue Qiao 1,2 & Haibo Yang 4 & Brian J. Hall 5 &
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study was designed to investigate the roles of numbing of positive and negative emotions in PTSD symptomology and related functional impairments. 14,465 Chinese children and adolescents who personally experienced the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (in Sichuan province, China) took part in the study. Emotional numbing and other PTSD symptoms were assessed by the University of California–Los Angeles PTSD Reaction Index for Children. Functional impairment was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales. Item response theory (IRT) analysis showed that both numbing of positive and negative emotions demonstrated acceptable item response characteristics; numbing of positive emotions had better discrimination. Group comparisons revealed that participants who reported numbing of both positive and negative emotions had the highest risk of developing PTSD, most severe PTSD symptoms and functional impairments, with large effect sizes when compared with participants with no emotional numbing symptoms. Reporting only numbing of positive emotions had moderate effects, and reporting only numbing of negative emotions had smaller effects. The results revealed associations between emotional numbing patterns, posttraumatic stress symptoms and impairments in quality of life, and suggests that additional research is needed to explore generalized emotional numbing in children and adolescents in future PTSD research. Keywords Post-traumatic stress disorder . Emotional dysregulation . DSM . Natural disaster . Quality of life
Introduction
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00677-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Li Wang [email protected] 1
Laboratory for Traumatic Stress Studies, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China
2
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
3
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
4
Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
5
New York University (Shanghai), Shanghai, China
6
Department of Psychology, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA
As reported by the United Nations, children and adolescents have become the largest age group affected by various disasters worldwide (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 2011). More than 100 million youth are affected by disasters every year. Disasters can lead to mental health problems among children and adolescents, among which posttr
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