Year of Award

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department or School/College

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

David Schuldberg

Commitee Members

Darrell Stolle, Duncan Campbell, Gyda Swaney, Rick van den Pol

Keywords

Grief, Native Americans, American Indians, PTSD

Abstract

The prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be comparatively high in child and adolescent populations (Reinherz, Gaiconia, Leftkowitz, Pakiz, & Frost,1993). However, recent research has suggested that there may be differing etiological factors, specifically, Child Traumatic Grief (CTG), that contributes to the development of PTSD symptoms in American Indian adolescents (Morsette, at al., 2007). First this study demonstrated that CTG symptoms predicted PTSD symptoms above and beyond that which was predicted by violence exposure. Second, it was found that CTG predicted depression above and that which was predicted by PTSD symptoms. Third, it found that grief was significantly correlated with PTSD symptoms. Similarly, grief was also significantly correlated with the depressive symptoms. Finally, using a two-tailed Pearson's Product mom$$ent correlation this study found there was no correlation between PTSD symptoms, grief symptoms, depressive symptoms, and American Indian student's Grade Point Average and absenteeism. However, a post-hoc analysis using a one-tailed Pearson's Product moment correlation indicated a statistical significant correlation between GPA and depression. Additional etiological models are explored. This study is the first to examine etiological factors of PTSD in American Indian adolescents. Additional qualitative research is necessary to better understand the contribution of grief in the development of PTSD symptoms.

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© Copyright 2009 Aaron Morsette