Assessment of PTSD and CPTSD Symptoms in Children and Adolescents Exposed to Earthquakes: An Evaluation Using Latent Profile

This study aims to identify the profiles of post-traumatic symptoms observed in children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 who were traumatised by experiencing the February 6 earthquakes, which are referred to as the disaster of the century in T & uuml;rkiye and were centred in Kahramanmara & scedil;, and to reveal the extent to which these identified profiles differ in terms of post-traumatic cognitions, trauma-related safety behaviour, depression, anxiety and well-being. In this context, data were collected from 282 children and adolescents residing in the earthquake-affected areas and analysed using latent profile analysis to determine the structure of post-traumatic symptoms. The analyses revealed five profiles: CPTSD, Avoidance, Disturbance in Self-Organization, Mild CPTSD and a low symptoms class. It was observed that the CPTSD profile displayed the highest levels of trauma symptoms, post-traumatic cognitions and depression compared to the other groups. In contrast, the low symptoms profile demonstrated the lowest levels of trauma-related difficulties. No significant differences were observed across profiles in terms of anxiety, safety behaviours or well-being, and no gender differences emerged between groups. These findings indicate that post-traumatic symptom structures in children and adolescents are heterogeneous, with post-traumatic cognitions and depression particularly elevated among those in the CPTSD profile.