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Open Access 01-07-2016 | Original Contribution

Child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems 12 months postburn: the potential role of preburn functioning, parental posttraumatic stress, and informant bias

Authors: Marthe R. Egberts, Rens van de Schoot, Anita Boekelaar, Hannelore Hendrickx, Rinie Geenen, Nancy E. E. Van Loey

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 7/2016

Abstract

Adjustment after pediatric burn injury may be a challenge for children as well as their parents. This prospective study examined associations of internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents 12 months postburn with preburn functioning, and parental acute and chronic posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) from different perspectives. Child, mother, and father reports of 90 children (9–18 years), collected within the first month and 12 months postburn, were analyzed. Results indicated that overall, child and parental appraisals of pre- and postburn behavioral problems were not significantly different from reference data. Rates of (sub)clinical postburn behavioral problems ranged from 6 to 17 %, depending on the informant. Pre- and postburn behavioral problems were significantly related, but only from the parents’ perspective. Path models showed an association between parental PTSS 12 months postburn and parental reports of child internalizing problems, as well as a significant indirect relationship from parental acute stress symptoms via PTSS 12 months postburn. Notably, no associations between parental PTSS and child reports of postburn behavioral problems were found. In conclusion, parental observations of child externalizing problems appear to be influenced by their perspectives on the child’s preburn functioning, while parental observations of internalizing problems are also related to long-term parental PTSS. However, these factors seem of no great value in predicting behavioral problems from the child’s perspective, suggesting substantial informant deviations. To optimize adjustment, clinical burn practice is recommended to adopt a family perspective including parent perception of preburn functioning and parental PTSS in assessment and intervention.

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Title: Child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems 12 months postburn: the potential role of preburn functioning, parental posttraumatic stress, and informant bias
Authors: Marthe R. Egberts
Rens van de Schoot
Anita Boekelaar
Hannelore Hendrickx
Rinie Geenen
Nancy E. E. Van Loey
Publication date: 01-07-2016
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 7/2016
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0788-z

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Child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems 12 months postburn: the potential role of preburn functioning, parental posttraumatic stress, and informant bias

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