ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2021
Classifying childhood war trauma exposure: latent profile analyses of Sierra Leone's former child soldiers.
Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Treatment Seeking Children and Youth who have Experienced Warzone Trauma: Examining the Mental Health Care Planning Needs.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- Mental health provision for children affected by war and armed conflicts.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Putative juvenile terrorists: the relationship between multiple traumatization, mental health, and expectations for reintegration among Islamic State recruited adolescent and young adult fighters.Conflict and health · 2022Article
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6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundFormer child soldiers are at elevated risk for mental health problems (e.g., traumatic stress, emotion dysregulation, and internalizing and externalizing problems). To examine which groups of former child soldiers are more likely to have difficulties with emotion regulation, interpersonal relationships, and mental health postconflict, we explored patterns of war trauma exposure and their effects on subsequent mental health problems among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
methodsParticipants were 415 (23.86% female) Sierra Leonean former child soldiers participating in a 15-year, four-wave longitudinal study. At T1 (2002), 282 former child soldiers (aged 10-17) were recruited. T2 (2004) included 186 participants from T1 and an additional cohort of self-reintegrated former child soldiers (NT2 = 132). T3 (2008) and T4 (2016/2017) participants were youth enrolled in previous waves (NT3 = 315; NT4 = 364). Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to classify participants based on the first-time reports of eight forms of war exposure (separation and loss of assets, parental loss, loss of loved ones, witnessing violence, victimization, perpetrating violence, noncombat activities, and deprivation). ANOVA examined whether patterns of war exposure were associated with sociodemographic characteristics and mental health outcomes between T1 and T4.
resultsLPA identified two profiles: higher exposure versus lower exposure, using cumulative scores of eight forms of war-related trauma exposure. The 'higher war exposure' group comprised 226 (54.5%) former child soldiers and the 'lower war exposure' group included 189 (45.5%). Significantly higher levels of violence-related and combat experiences characterized the group exposed to more traumatic events. The 'higher war exposure' group reported more PTSD symptoms at T2, more hyperarousal symptoms across all waves, and more difficulties in emotion regulation at T4.
conclusionsFormer child soldiers exposed to higher levels of war-related traumatic events and loss should be prioritized for mental health services immediately postconflict and as they transition into adulthood.
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