Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:18:18.139Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2021

Sami Jomaa*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Ameer Kakaje
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Ragheed Al Zohbi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Aleppo University
Ayham Alyousbashi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Rawan N K Abdelwahed
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Osama Hosam Aldeen
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Mohammad Marwan Alhalabi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Ayham Ghareeb
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University
Youssef Latifeh
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, Al-Mowasat University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Syrian Private University
*
*corresponding author.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Aims

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.

Method

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.

Result

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 lower PTSD scores but was associated with a worse physical component of HRQL.

Conclusion

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.

Type
Research
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.