Abstract
The literature on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children is rather sparse. Most accounts describe only the aftereffects of horrendous traumas. Yet there is evidence that children are also vulnerable to a wider range of stressor than adults. Since the nosology for PTSD is based upon adult psychopathology, there is a need to examine the syndrome in light of current knowledge about development, psychopathology, and ecological factors in children's lives. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that the pattern of symptoms of PTSD in children is different from those in adults. The paradigm presented was generated by work with children and youth who were the victims of excessively punitive disciplinary practices in schools. An updated overview of the literature on PTSD in children is presented. Case studies and retrospective data are offered in support of the need to differentiate child/adolescent PTSD from adult nosology and to understand the nature of PTSD when it occurs as a result of school related abuse.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association (1980).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd, edition), American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.
Bogacki, D. (1981). Attitudes toward corporal punishment:Authoritarian Personality and Pupil Control Ideology of School Personnel, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Breznitz, S. (ed.) (1983).Stress in Israel Von Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Brown, G. W. (1977). School: Child advocate or adversary?Clin. Ped. 16(5): 439–446.
Carmen, E., Rieker, P., and Mills, T. (1984). Victims of violence and psychiatric illness.Am. J. Psychiat. 141: 378–383.
Chandler, L. A., and Shermis, M. D. (1985). The use of the stress response scale in diagnostic assessment with children.J. Psychoed. Assess. 3(1): 15–29.
Clarke, J. (1986).Some Effects of Corporal Punishment and Psychological Abuse on School Students and Their Parents Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Clarke, J., Erdlen, R., and Hyman, I. A. (April, 1984).Analysis of Recent Corporal Punishment Cases Reported in National Newspapers, Paper presented at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists, Philadelphia, Pa.
Clarke, J., Liberman-Liberman-Lascoe, R., and Hyman, I. A. (1982). Corporal punishment as reported in nationwide newspapers.Child Youth Serv. 4(1,2): 47–56.
Danieli, Y. (1985). The treatment and prevention of long-term effects and intergenerational transmission of victimization: A lesson from Holocaust survivors and their children. In Figley, C. (ed.),Trauma and Its Wake Brunner/Mazel, New York.
Deykin, E. Y., Alpert, J. J., and McNamara, J. J. (1985). A pilot study of the effect of exposure to child abuse or neglect on adolescent suicidal behavior.Am. J. Psychiat. 142(11): 1299–1303.
Eth, S., and Pynoos, R. (1985).Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Children American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.
Farley, A. (1983).National Survey of the Use and Nonuse of Corporal Punishment as a Disciplinary Technique within United States Public Schools Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Finkelhor, D., and Browne, A. (1985). The traumatic impact of child sexual abuse: A conceptualization.Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 55(4): 530–541.
Fraser, M. (1973).Children in Conflict Harmondsworth, London.
Frederick, C. (1986).Human Induced Violence, Paper presented at the Second Annual Meeting of the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Denver, Colorado, September 26, 1986.
Garmezy, N. (1982). Children under severe stress: Critique and commentary.J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiat. 25(3): 384–392.
Glackman, T., Berv., V., Martin, R., McDowell, E., Spino, R., and Hyman, I. A. (1978). The relation between corporal punishment suspensions and discrimination.Inequal. Ed. 23: 61–65 (Published by the Center for Law and Education, Cambridge, Mass.).
Gold, H. (1978, Spring). Children's rights and child abuse.Day Care Early Ed. 25–27.
Handford, H. A., Mayes, S. D., Mattison, R. E., Humphrey, F. J., Bagnato, S., Bixler, E. D., and Kales, J. D. (1986). Child and parent reaction to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiat. 25(3): 346–356.
Harbison, J., and Harbison, J. (1980).A Society under Stress: Children and Young People of Northern Ireland Open Books, Somerset, England.
Hart, S., Brassard, M., and Germaine, B. (eds.) (1983).Proceedings of the International Conference on Psychological Abuse of Children and Youth Center for the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child, University of Indiana-Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Hughes, H., and Barad, S. (1983). Psychological functioning of children in a battered women's shelter: Preliminary investigation.Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 53: 525–531.
Hyman, I. (1983). Psychological correlates of corporal punishment and physical abuse. In Stuart Hart, Marla Brassard & Bob Germaine (eds.),Proceedings of the International Conference on Psychological Abuse of Children and Youth Center for the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child, University of Indiana-Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Ind.
Hyman, I. A. (August, 1985).Psychological Abuse in the Schools: A School Psychologist's Perspective, Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
Hyman, I. A., Bilus, F., Dennehy, M. N., Feldman, G., Flannagan, D., Maital, S., and McDowell, E. (1979). Discipline in American education.J. Ed. VII(2): 51–70.
Hyman, I. A., and D'Allesandro, J. (1984). Good old fashioned discipline: The politics of punitiveness.Phi Delta Kappan 66(1): 39–45.
Hyman, I. A., Fudell, R., Johnson, R., and Clarke, J. (April, 1985).Child Abuse in the Schools: Community and Judicial Attitudes, Paper presented at the meeting of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, New York.
Hyman, I. A., and Wise, J. (1979).Corporal Punishment in American Education Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Jaffe, P., Wolfe, D., Wilson, S., and Zack, L. (1986). Similarities in behavioral and social maladjustment among child victims and witnesses to family violence.Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 56(1): 142–146.
Krugman, R..D., and Krugman, M. K. (March, 1984). Emotional abuse in the classroom.Am. J. Dis. Child 138: 284–286.
Lamphear, V. S. (1985). The impact of maltreatment on children's psychosocial adjustment: A review of the research. Special issue: C. Henry Kempe memorial research issue.Child Abuse Negl. 9(2): 251–263.
Lennox, N. (1982).Teacher Use of Corporal Publishment as a Function of Modeling Behavior Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Laury, G. V., and Meerloo, J. A. (1967). Mental cruelty and child abuse.Psychiat. Quart. 41(2): 203–254.
Lifton, R. J. (1967).Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima Random House, New York.
Lifton, R. J., and Olson, E. (1976). The human meaning of total disaster: The Buffalo Creek experience.Psychiatry 39: 1–18.
McDowell, E., and Friedman, R. (1979). An analysis of editorial opinion regarding corporal punishment: Some dynamics of regional differences. In Hyman, I. A., and Wise, J. (eds.),Corporal Punishment in American Education Temple University Press, Philadelphia, pp. 329–334.
Milgram, R. M., and Milgram, N. A. (1976). The effects of the Yom Kippur War on anxiety levels in Israeli children.J. Prof. Psychol. 94: 107–113.
Moskovitz, S. (1983).Love Despite Hate: Child Survivors of the Holocaust and Their Adult Lives Schocken Books, New York.
Oates, P. K., Forrest, D., and Peacock, A. (1985). Self-esteem of abused children. Special issue: C. Henry Kempe memorial research issue.Child Abuse Negl. 9(2): 159–163.
Pennsylvania State Education Association v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare,et al. Respondents (October 28, 1982).School Law Information Exchange, XIX(74); Pennsylvania School Board Solicitors Association, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Pokalo, M. (1986).Caregivers' Attitudes toward the Severity of Punishment for Forty-four Misbehaviors in Mental Retardation Institutions Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Polier, J. W. (1975). Professional abuse of children: Responsibility for the delivery of services.Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 45(3): 357–362.
Porter, B., and O'Leary, K. (1980). Marital discord and childhood behavior problems.J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 80: 287–295.
Psychologist criticizes ‘closet’ punishment. (1983, November 8).The News American, Baltimore, Md.
Pynoos, R., and Eth, S. (1985). Developmental perspectives on psychic trauma. In Figley, C. R. (ed.),Trauma and Its Wake Brunner/Mazel, New York, pp. 36–52.
Raifman, L.J. (1983). Problems of diagnosis and legal causation in courtroom use of post-traumatic stress disorder.Behav. Sci. Law 1(3): 115–130.
Rosenbaum, A., and O'Leary, K. (1981). Children: The unintended victims of marital violence.Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 51: 692–699.
Sack, W. H., Angell, R. H., Kinzie, J. D., and Rath, B. (1986). The psychiatric effects of massive trauma on Cambodian children: Il. The family, the home, and the school.J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiat. 25(3): 370–376.
Sofer, B. (1983).Psychologist's Attitudes toward Corporal Punishment Unpublished doctoral dissertion, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Stein, A. (June 8, 1986). Children of poverty: Crises in New York.New York Times Sunday Magazine 39: 40, 56, 68, 69, 88.
Terr, L. (1979). Children of Chowchilla: A study of psychic trauma.Psychoanal. Study Child. 34: 547–623.
Terr, L. C. (1983). Chowchilla revisited: The effects of psychic trauma four years after a school bus kidnapping.Am. J. Psychiat. 140(12): 1543–1550.
West Virginia Department of Human Services v. Janet Boley and the Fayette County Board of Education (February 21, 1985). Civil Action No. 84-C-52.
Zelikoff, W. (1986). Evidence for a new diagnostic construct: Educator-induced post traumatic stress disorder. Unpublished manuscript, Temple University, Philadelphia.
Zvi, A., and Israeli, R. (1973). Effects of bombardment on the manifest anxiety level of children living in kibbutzim.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 40: 187–291.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Hyman, I.A., Zelikoff, W. & Clarke, J. Psychological and physical abuse in the schools: A paradigm for understanding post-traumatic stress disorder in children and youth. J Trauma Stress 1, 243–267 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00975001
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00975001