ArticleEuropean journal of psychotraumatology2021
Sex differences in post-traumatic stress disorder in a high adversity cohort of South African adolescents: an examination of depressive symptoms, age, and trauma type as explanatory factors.
Article in European journal of psychotraumatology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding psychotrauma in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of clinical and sociocultural perspectives.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Living in the Aftermath: Narratives on the impact of exposure to community and school violence in childhood on mental health and adjustment outcomes in later life.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2026Article
- Sudan's war: psychological impact on medical students, University of Khartoum, Sudan, 2024.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder in adolescents exposed to continuous traumatic stress in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- [Sex and gender differences in posttraumatic stress disorder: current evidence on etiology, trajectory and treatment].Der Nervenarzt · 2026Review
- Causal relationship between inflammatory cytokines and posttraumatic stress disorder: a Mendelian randomization study and potential mechanism analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Impact of exposure to community and school violence during adolescence in the African context: systematic review.BJPsych international · 2025Review
- Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression Among Children and Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries-A Systematic Review.Psychiatric research and clinical practice · 2025Review
- Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and its association with adverse childhood experiences among refugee and host-community children and adolescents in Jordan.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- Observational
- The relationship between lifecourse traumatic events and pain in an older rural South African population: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2024Article
- A counsellor-supported 'PTSD Coach' intervention versus enhanced Treatment-as-Usual in a resource-constrained setting: A randomised controlled trial.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- PTSD, dysregulation profile and substance use: exploring differences in a sample of adolescents in an outpatient clinic.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Sex and gender in psychotrauma research.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
- Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: An Integrative Review.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Sex-Based Contributors to and Consequences of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.Current psychiatry reports · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Evidence from high-income countries (HICs) has documented a higher rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in females than males. However, data are limited on sex differences in PTSD from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite particularly high levels of trauma experienced by LMIC youth. Objectives: In a sample of adolescents from an impoverished South African community, we examined sex differences in PTSD, as well as co-occurring depression, adolescent age, and the type and extent of trauma exposure as potential contributors to female vulnerability. Methods: Participants were recruited from high schools in the Khayelitsha area of Cape Town. Self-reported trauma exposure, PTSD and depressive symptoms were measured in 797 adolescents (62% female) aged 13-17 years. Poisson regressions were used to examine Risk Ratios (RR) based on probable PTSD diagnoses, and linear regressions were applied to assess posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity. Results: 92% of adolescents reported trauma exposure, of whom 28% had probable PTSD. Prevalence of PTSD was higher for females than for males, even when controlling for total trauma exposure (RR = 1.71, Conclusion: Higher PTSD rates are observed in adolescent females in a high adversity-LMIC sample suggesting sex differences are robust across international contexts. Sex differences in PTSD are unlikely to be explained by co-occurring depression and in this context sex differences in depression may be secondary to trauma and PTSD. However, exposure to significant interpersonal trauma appears to overrule any specific female vulnerability.
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Registered trials
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