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Trajectory of adolescents’ nightmares in relation to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in young adulthood: a 10-year cohort of Chinese Wenchuan earthquake survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

This study examined the longitudinal trajectories of adolescent survivors’ nightmares after the Wenchuan earthquake and tested whether specific trajectory memberships of nightmares could predict depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the 10 years after earthquake.

Methods

610 adolescents exposed to the Wenchuan earthquake were surveyed on nightmares at 18 months (T18m), 24 months (T24m), and 30 months (T30m) after the earthquake. Depression and PTSD were assessed at baseline (T18m) and 10 years (T10y) after the catastrophe. Data were analyzed using linear regression analysis.

Results

The prevalence rates of frequent nightmares at three time points were 9.8%, 11.5%, and 9.3%, respectively. Five different trajectories of nightmares were identified: resistance (77.0%), recover (8.4%), delayed-dysfunction (7.9%), chronic-dysfunction (1.1%), and relapsing/remitting (5.6%). Additionally, we found that participants in relapsing/remitting, chronic or delayed dysfunction trajectories compared with those in the resistant group were more likely to experience depression and PTSD in young adulthood after adjusting for a wide range of covariates.

Conclusions

Nightmares had heterogeneity after a catastrophic earthquake. Timely assessment and targeted interventions on specific nightmares are necessary for reducing the incidence of psychiatric disorders.

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Availability of data and materials

Data available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to express their sincere gratitude to all participants for participating in the study.

Funding

The present study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 32271135; 82101575), Research on the Processes and Repair of Psychological Trauma in Youth, Project of Key Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, MOE (Grant No. 16JJD190001), and Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme (GDUPS 2016).

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Author notes

  1. Dongfang Wang and Xiao-Yan Chen have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Centre for Studies of Psychological Applications, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, South China Normal University, Shipai Road, Guangzhou, 510631, China

    Dongfang Wang, Xiao-Yan Chen & Fang Fan

  2. Department of Social Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Guangzhou Huiai Hospital), Guangzhou, China

    Meng Sun

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  1. Dongfang Wang
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  2. Xiao-Yan Chen
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  4. Fang Fan
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Contributions

DW: investigation, formal analysis, writing-original draft preparation. X-YC: formal analysis, methodology, writing—review and editing. MS: writing—review and editing. FF: conceptualization, resources, formal analysis, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Fang Fan.

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Wang, D., Chen, XY., Sun, M. et al. Trajectory of adolescents’ nightmares in relation to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in young adulthood: a 10-year cohort of Chinese Wenchuan earthquake survivors. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02595-w

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