PTSD SYMPTOMS IN URBAN ADOLESCENT GIRLS - COMPOUNDED COMMUNITY TRAUMA

Objective: To describe the assessments for exposure to violent events and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a population of urban adolescent girls. Method: Seventy-nine urban adolescent girls attending an adolescent medicine clinic were assessed via clinician-assisted self-report measures called the Adolescent Self-Report Trauma Questionnaire. The questionnaire gathered information on demographics, exposure to community and domestic violent events, and PTSD symptoms. Results: The adolescents experienced between 8 and 55 different types of community and domestic violent events, with the mean number of violent events being 28. Hyperarousal cluster symptoms were present in 90%, reexperiencing clusters symptoms in 89%, and avoidance cluster symptoms in 80%, while 67% met symptom criteria for PTSD. Increased number of types of violent events was positively correlated with meeting PTSD criteria (p = .01) and with increased PTSD severity scores (p = .001). Conclusions: These urban adolescent girls have experienced prolonged and repeated exposure to multiple types of community as well as domestic violent events, via multiple modalities of contact, over time. They reported a high percentage of PTSD symptoms across all three symptom clusters. The authors propose the concept of ''compounded community trauma'' and discuss its marked impact on female adolescent development.