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01-08-2020

Developmental Differences in the Association of Peer Relationships with Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Authors: Rebeccah L. Sokol, Marc A. Zimmerman, Brian E. Perron, Katherine L. Rosenblum, Maria Muzik, Alison L. Miller

Published in: Prevention Science | Issue 6/2020

Abstract

Although childhood trauma exposure has a high incidence, traumatic stress often goes untreated in children and youth. We investigated peer relationship quality as a prevention strategy for reducing traumatic stress across different developmental periods. We analyzed longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW I) using a time-varying effect model (TVEM) to investigate the association between peer relationship quality and traumatic stress symptoms across ages 8–17 years. We controlled for a robust set of confounders identified through a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). The unique association between peer relationship quality and traumatic stress symptoms was negative and significant from ages 8 to 8.5 years, and again from ages 9.4 to 10.9 years and at age 16.4 to 16.8 years, with maximum associations of − 1.45 T score points at age 8.5 years (95% CI = [− 2.87, − 0.40]), − 1.57 at age 9.4 years (95% CI = [− 3.13,− 0.01]), and − 1.89 at 16.7 years (95% CI = [− 3.70, − 0.09]). Peer relationship quality protected against traumatic stress during specific times during adolescent development. Our results suggest that helping youth establish and maintain positive peer relationships may be a useful prevention approach for helping them cope with trauma experiences.

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Title: Developmental Differences in the Association of Peer Relationships with Traumatic Stress Symptoms
Authors: Rebeccah L. Sokol
Marc A. Zimmerman
Brian E. Perron
Katherine L. Rosenblum
Maria Muzik
Alison L. Miller
Publication date: 01-08-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science / Issue 6/2020
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01125-3

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Developmental Differences in the Association of Peer Relationships with Traumatic Stress Symptoms

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