Gender comparisons and prevalence of child abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adolescents

Objective: To identify the gender differences, prevalence and cross-association of abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in school-going adolescents. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in four government schools of Lahore, Pakistan, from February to June 2016, and comprised students aged 11-18 years who were selected through simple random sampling technique. The Child Abuse Scale: Adolescent Version and Hopkins Symptoms Checklist were used to measure the gender differences, prevalence and cross-association of abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. SPSS 22 was used to analyse data. Results: There were 478 participants with a mean age of 15.18 +/- 1.45 years. Of the total, 247(52%) subjects were males and 231(48%) were females. The overall, 130(27%) male respondents reported significantly high abuse than 101(21%) female adolescents (p=0.032). However, 113(23%) females scored significantly high on physical and emotional sub-scales of abuse than 98(21%) males (p=0.031). No significant gender differences in the prevalence of sexual abuse were observed (p=0.431). On post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, 140(29%) females demonstrated high scores than 102(21%) males (p=0.008). Association of child abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms was also significant (p=0.008) as 133(28%) subjects reporting high abuse also exhibited high symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Conclusion: Significant association of abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms emphasise the need for early identification and timely management of abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adolescents.