Biomaterial Database

Trauma exposure in pre-school children in a war zone. 2006

Abel Aziz Mousa Thabet, and Khalid Karim, and Panos Vostanis

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leicester, Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE2 0QU, UK.

BACKGROUND There has been little reported research into the effect of war on the behaviour and emotional well-being of pre-school children. OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between exposure to war trauma and behavioural and emotional problems among pre-school children. METHODS A total of 309 children aged 3-6 years were selected from kindergartens in the Gaza Strip, and were assessed by parental reports in regard to their exposure to war trauma, using the Gaza Traumatic Checklist, and their behavioural and emotional problems, using the Behaviour Checklist (BCL) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS Pre-school children were exposed to a wide range of traumatic events. The total number of traumatic events independently predicted total BCL and SDQ scores. Exposure to day raids and shelling of the children's houses by tanks were significantly associated with total behavioural and emotional problems scores. CONCLUSIONS Direct and non-direct exposure to war trauma increases the risk of behavioural and emotional problems among pre-school children, which may present as non-specific psychopathology.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008877	Middle East	The region of southwest Asia and northeastern Africa usually considered as extending from Libya on the west to Afghanistan on the east. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988)	Gaza Strip,Near East,West Bank,Gaza Strip (Palestine)
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D002653	Child Behavior Disorders	Disturbances considered to be pathological based on age and stage appropriateness, e.g., conduct disturbances and anaclitic depression. This concept does not include psychoneuroses, psychoses, or personality disorders with fixed patterns.	Childhood Behavior Disorders,Behavior Disorder, Child,Behavior Disorder, Childhood,Child Behavior Disorder,Childhood Behavior Disorder,Disorder, Childhood Behavior
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D004644	Emotions	Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties.	Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D012737	Sex Factors	Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances.	Factor, Sex,Factors, Sex,Sex Factor