Post-traumatic stress disorder and resilience level in adolescents

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more common in adults and elderly than in adolescents and children (Ditlevsen & Elklit, 2010). Therefore, this study will contribute to the literature by exploring the role of resilience in adolescents in relation to PTSD. PTSD was always a subject of interest in learning about victims and how are they dealing with their trauma. In addition, it would be interesting to learn and discover the power of resilience and its effect on PTSD in adolescents. This study will answer the following questions, if the resilience level within a person affects PTSD development, and whether there is a relationship between resilience level in adolescents and PTSD or not. The aim of this research is to explore and explain the impact of PTSD on Lebanese adolescents in accordance to their resilience level. In addition, this will impact the Lebanese society since there has not been sufficient research on this topic, specifically, after the Beirut explosion that occurred on the 4th of August, 2020. This study included 10 participants, a quantitative approach was applied and the following questionnaires were used; the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to test the resilience level and the Clinical Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5) to assess PTSD symptoms including frequency and severity. A deductive method was used for the analysis of both questionnaires using SPSS. Results showed that there is a significant, strong and negative correlation (p = 0.023, r = - 0.705) between PTSD and resilience. Therefore, the hypotheses were confirmed but the results were not conclusive due to the limited sample size.