The associations between PTSD symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty and personal growth initiative in trauma-exposed children and adolescents: undirected and Bayesian network analyses.

This study aims to conduct network analysis to identify the network structures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and personal growth initiative (PGI) in Chinese trauma-exposed children and adolescents. This study used data from 4,515 Chinese children and adolescents to investigate this relationship using undirected network analyses in combination with the Bayesian directed acyclic graph (DAG). The results indicate that IU has robust relationships with the specific symptoms 'exaggerated startle response', 'irritability/anger', and 'exaggerated startle response'. PGI shows strong relationships with the particular symptoms of 'difficulty concentrating', 'negative beliefs', and IU. The results of DAG show that key PTSD symptoms play a role in activating IU and PGI. These findings provide valuable insights into the association between PTSD symptoms, IU, and PGI, and offer significant guidance for developing intervention and treatment strategies for adolescents who have experienced trauma.