ABSTRACT
Is youth associated with a higher risk of developing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following trauma than adulthood is? This is the central question posed in this chapter. Research suggests that PTSD is a memory disorder, and therefore it is relevant to investigate if developmental differences in memory may affect the risk of developing the disorder following trauma. Specifically, young trauma victims may be at a greater risk of developing the disorder than adults are, since youth is the time when life stories and identities are developing. Hence, experiencing trauma in this period may cast a relatively larger shadow on the life story, leading to psychological distress. In this chapter, we outline the theoretical background of PTSD, and an empirically supported memory-based understanding of the disorder is presented. Furthermore, we review literature that explores potential differences in PTSD levels following traumas in youth and adulthood respectively. We conclude that empirical findings suggest that youths indeed are at greater risk of developing PTSD following traumas than adults are, though more research dedicated to investigating age differences is required.
