accidents? Unfortunately, as pointed out by Di Gallo, Barton and Parry-Jones (1997), research on the psychological consequences of accidents to children and adolescents consists primary of case reports rather than controlled empirical studies.
However, in an effort to look at these consequences in a more controlled manner, the Di Gallo et. al (1997) conducted a study of young road traffic accident victims. There were 57 subjects in the study, all of whom were between the ages of five and eighteen years.
Approximately two to sixteen days after the accident, both the children and their parents were interview. Children and parents were then interviewed again thirteen to fifteen weeks later.
Analyses of the data were said to show that in addition to their physical injuries, most of the sample children and adolescents suffered from at least some post-accident-stress symptoms. There was a decrease of symptom severity between the two interviews, but at the later time, 14 percent of those injured still suffered from moderate or severe post-traumatic stress disorder and 17 percent from serious traffic-related fears.
Also, parents reported increased mood disturbance in their children compared with the pre-accident period. High levels of distress during and immediately after the accident were associated with severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. It was noted that the degree of psychological stress experienced by children and adolescents was strongly related to the degree of injury.
Regarding the typical or normal consequences of children following severe, traumatic accidents, Byrne, Love and Browne (1986) have pointed out that, in general, they tend to do far better than adults in terms of adjustment. Specifically, it is noted that children are much more resilient than adults because they have less negative expectations and beliefs about the limiting effects of their injuries.
Knudson-Cooper (1981) conducted a study ...