Assessment of PTSD and CPTSD Symptoms in Children and Adolescents Exposed to Earthquakes: An Evaluation Using Latent Profile

This study aims to identify the profiles of post-traumatic symptoms observed in children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 who were traumatised by experiencing the February 6 earthquakes, which are referred to as the disaster of the century in Türkiye and were centred in Kahramanmaraş, and to reveal the extent to which these identified profiles differ in terms of post-traumatic cognitions, trauma-related safety behaviour, depression, anxiety and well-being. In this context, data were collected from 282 children and adolescents residing in the earthquake-affected areas and analysed using latent profile analysis to determine the structure of post-traumatic symptoms. The analyses revealed five profiles: CPTSD, Avoidance, Disturbance in Self-Organization, Mild CPTSD and a low symptoms class. It was observed that the CPTSD profile displayed the highest levels of trauma symptoms, post-traumatic cognitions and depression compared to the other groups. In contrast, the low symptoms profile demonstrated the lowest levels of trauma-related difficulties. No significant differences were observed across profiles in terms of anxiety, safety behaviours or well-being, and no gender differences emerged between groups. These findings indicate that post-traumatic symptom structures in children and adolescents are heterogeneous, with post-traumatic cognitions and depression particularly elevated among those in the CPTSD profile.