Fed: Young girls worst hit by stress after Larry: Study

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2007
Fed: Young girls worst hit by stress after Larry: Study

Cyclone Larry took a severe toll on the mental health of local children in North Queensland
.. with new research revealing more than one in ten are still suffering trauma .. more
than a year later.

A study of three thousand school students found 11 per cent of primary-aged kids met
the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Adolescents were more resilient .. with four per cent reporting psychological symptoms of stress.

The study found girls were three times more likely than boys to suffer from post traumatic
stress disorder .. typically characterised by flashbacks .. nightmares .. anxiety .. clinginess
and bed-wetting.

The research has been released at a national psychiatry conference on the Gold Coast today.

AAP RTV tam/wf/bart

KEYWORD: LARRY STRESS (SYDNEY)

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