Witnessing Arrests Increases Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Children

Newswise — A University of Illinois at Chicago study says children in the nation's child welfare system who witnessed the arrest of a household member may have been psychologically traumatized by the arrest.

Susan D. Phillips, assistant professor of social work and the study's lead author, found that children who saw the arrest of a household member had elevated symptoms of posttraumatic stress or PTS -- a psychological response to witnessing a traumatic or life-threatening event.

Even after accounting for other factors that might explain the condition, such as maltreatment or child abuse, the elevated symptoms associated with PTS remained, the study found.

Phillips suggests mental health professionals should be regularly screening to see if children have witnessed an arrest of someone they lived with and get them the help they need.

Data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being was used to examine the experiences of children ages 8 and up who were suspected victims of child abuse and neglect.

The results are published online in the journal Children and Youth Services Review. Jian Zhao, a former graduate student at the university, was the study's co-author.

UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 26,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu

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NOTE: Please refer to the institution as the University of Illinois at Chicago on first reference and UIC on second reference. "University of Illinois" and "U. of I." are often assumed to refer to our sister campus in Urbana-Champaign.