Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anger and mental health of school students in Syria after nine years of conflict: a large-scale school-based study

The Syrian crisis has entered its ninth year with many being affected by the war. This is the largest-scale study that aims to evaluate the psychological profile of secondary school students in Syria. This is a cross-sectional study in schools in Damascus, Syria. The surveys assessed working habits,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 2022-07, Vol.52 (10), p.1923-1933
Main Authors: Kakaje, Ameer, Al Zohbi, Ragheed, Alyousbashi, Ayham, Abdelwahed, Rawan N.K., Hosam Aldeen, Osama, Alhalabi, Mohammad Marwan, Ghareeb, Ayham, Latifeh, Youssef
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anger
Coronaviruses
Cross-Sectional Studies
Emotions
Habits
Health status
Humans
Life stress
Mental disorders
Mental Health
Original Article
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychological distress
Quality of Life
Schools
Secondary schools
Smoking
Social interactions
Social support
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Students
Students - psychology
Syria - epidemiology
War
Working parents
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Summary:The Syrian crisis has entered its ninth year with many being affected by the war. This is the largest-scale study that aims to evaluate the psychological profile of secondary school students in Syria. This is a cross-sectional study in schools in Damascus, Syria. The surveys assessed working habits, smoking, war exposure, grades, socioeconomic status (SES), social support, health-related quality of life (HRQL), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), problematic anger, and other parameters. This study included 1369 students of which 53% suffered from PTSD and 62% from problematic anger. Around 46% declared a fair or worse general health and 61% had moderate or severe mental health. Only 9.3% did not report exposure to any war-related variable. War exposure had an impact on PTSD, anger, and HRQL, but not on students' grades. Smoking, having consanguineous parents, and working did not have a clear association with grades or anger. Social support weakly reduced PTSD and anger scores. Interestingly, working was associatedwith lowerPTSD scores but was associated with a worse physical component of HRQL. This is the largest study on school students in Syria that reports the psychological ramifications of war. Although the direct effects of war could not be precisely described, the high burden of PTSD and anger distress was a strong reflection of the chronic mental distress.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291720003761