Does Feeling Safe Mean Being Free From Distress? Assessment of the Co-Existing Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Feelings of Safety in Children Following a Natural Disaster.

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that restoring feelings of safety helps alleviate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on cross-sectional designs. However, feelings of safety may be affected by PTSD over time. As a result, how safety and PTSD interact in victims and their coexisting patterns remain unclear, particularly in children who have suffered from natural disasters. 1593, 1072, and 483 children were recruited at 3 months (T1), 15 months (T2), and 27 months (T3) following a super typhoon, respectively. Children who completed all three waves of self-report questionnaires were included (N = 351; 46.15% girls; M_age = 9.55 years, SD = 0.66). The data were mainly analysed using the latent growth mixture model. The results revealed four distinct conjoint trajectories: resilience PTSD-high and sharply increasing safety (Class 1; 76.07%), resilience PTSD-slowly increasing safety (Class 2; 13.68%), chronic PTSD-moderate and increasing safety (Class 3; 6.27%), and resilience-decreasing safety (Class 4; 3.99%). Trauma exposure and perceived social support at baseline were significantly more strongly related to Class 3 than Class 1. The results indicated that feelings of safety and PTSD showed heterogeneous patterns of coexistence in children. Further, trauma exposure and perceived social support could differentiate children with distinct patterns of safety and PTSD.