Is there a relationship between age and gender with PTSD symptoms - Research Paper Example

Approximately more than two thirds of people within the general population may experience an axiological event of trauma within their lives with up to a fifth of persons living in the United States experiencing such an event in any year (Sandro, Arijit, & David, 2005). These events range from rape, motor vehicle accident, physical assault, and natural disasters. Events such as motor vehicle accidents, floods, terrorist attacks are traumatic events which many persons experience within their life and have the potential of precipitating into a wide array of physical and mental health disorders.

For instance in a survey carried out united States residents, thirteen percent reported a lifetime exposure to human generated or natural disasters (Davidson, Hughes, & Blazer, 1991). PTSD is one of the most commonly studied and to a great extent, the most pleonastic and debilitating psychological disorder culminating from traumatic events. This has increased interest and attracted attention of psychiatrists, psychologists, and interested researchers alike and is rapidly taking center stage when it comes to psychological disorders in the medical world.

It is the sole intention of this paper to demonstrate how age and gender of persons relates to the occurrence of PTSD symptoms. It will focus on the difference in severity of PTSD symptoms in terms of gender and age. The study will target adult male and female persons ranging from thirty to sixty years and children ranging from six to twelve years. Another group will be included ranging from fifteen to twenty nine years composed of both male and female persons. Literature Review This study has been limited to research studies that were conducted between 1990 and 2008.

Within this period there has been research events conducted as relates to PTSD but a profound absence of work that underscores the relationship between the severity of PTSD and the age and gender of persons. Therefore the bulk of the research seeks to investigate this particular issue and give critical information contributing to the known facts as relates to PTSD. I have singled out pre-existing literature that contains critical information that is of great importance to this research event.

One such article is the epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder after disasters (Sandro, Arijit, & Vlahov, 2005). It gives reliable epidemiological information that relates to PTSD symptoms and sets stage for a more conclusive and a much wider research effort to develop statistics of PTSD severity symptoms with relation to not only disaster but many other etiologies of PTSD. Although specific traumas have their effects well documented and established, many persons both in research and clinical settings have experienced more than a single traumatic event in their lives (Breslau, Chilcoat, Kessler, & Lucia, 1999).

Of these persons, some report symptoms of PTSD that indicate the combined effects of two or more of these traumatic experiences as opposed to mainly their latest trauma or the severest from of trauma they have been exposed to. There is an increasing amount of literature suggesting that the severity of a persons PTSD symptoms can be predicted by the lifetime number of traumas that an individual has experienced (Norris, 1992). These studies and cumulative trauma literature fail to give significant information