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Traumatic events and adolescent psychopathology in a United States national probability sample.

Objective: Exposure to traumatic events has been associated with psychiatric symptoms and prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescents. This study was conducted to examine, in a U.S. probability sample of adolescents, the association between lifetime exposure to traumatic events and current (i.e., 30-day) severity of serious emotional disturbance (SED) using a brief screening measure commonly adopted for monitoring psychopathology in epidemiological surveys and community, educational, and clinical settings. Method: Data on lifetime prevalence of 17 traumatic events and a measure of SED (i.e., the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) was examined in the National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement, a probability sample of 13-18-year-old adolescents (N = 10,106). Results: Sixty percent of adolescents reported experiencing at least one traumatic event, and the mean number of events reported was 1.3. Adjusting for demographics, 16 of 17 traumatic events were significantly and positively associated with SED, with traumas involving interpersonal violence having especially large effect sizes. The largest effect sizes were obtained for having been (a) badly beaten by date or romantic partner, (b) raped, and (c) badly beaten by parents or guardians. Fourteen of the traumatic events were significantly associated with SED when all 17 events were examined simultaneously, thereby providing evidence for the specificity of these associations. Conclusions: Results suggest that a broad range of traumatic events are uniquely associated with current severity of psychopathology in adolescents, using a measure commonly used in epidemiological surveys and community, educational, and clinical settings. Findings highlight the importance of traumas involving interpersonal violence for adolescent mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).