School-Based Screening for Trauma in Middle School: Findings from an Urban School District

Introduction: Estimates of the prevalence of trauma among youth vary widely in the current literature by many factors, including study location and youth sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, urbanicity of residence). These prevalence studies also differ in the types of incidences they include in the definition of “trauma,” and the degree to which they measure the impact or symptomatology of traumatic stress. Without a clear understanding of the extent of the problem as well as individuals’ resiliency to traumatic experiences, our child and family-serving systems cannot adequately respond with appropriate services and support to prevent the deleterious long-term effects of untreated traumatic stress.

Although research has grown in the last two decades that investigates the prevalence of trauma experiences among children and adolescents, few studies chronicle trauma exposure in early adolescents disaggregated by sociodemographic variables as well as by associated symptomatology based on the trauma category(e.g., interpersonal, accidental, direct, and/or vicarious traumatic events). This presentation will describe an examination of the prevalence rate of traumatic experiences of middle school students in an urban school district, and how these rates differ by student demographics and types of trauma. Furthermore, we assess the degree to which one or more traumatic events are associated with severe symptoms of traumatic stress.

Methods:Data for this presentation come from a study that was conducted in 12 middle schools of a large urban school district serving a high proportion of immigrant and low-income families. On average, the district educates more than 60,000 students annually, and more than 50 languages are spoken among the families of its student population. In all, 4,076 sixth-grade students participated in the trauma screening process over the course of four academic years.

 The screening involved a group administration of a self-report questionnaire, which asked students to identify whether they had experienced one or more traumatic events (e.g., physical assault or threat, natural/man-made disaster, death of a loved one, extended illness or hospitalization) on a modified version of the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory for Children, and to rate their level of distress on a subscale of the Trauma Symptom Checklist-Child Version.

Results: This presentation will provide descriptive statistics that document the mean reported number of traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress subscale scores by participants’ sociodemographic variables to assess the relationships between elevated trauma and symptomatology. This presentation will also discuss inferential statistics that report significant differences associated with ethnicity, gender, and type of trauma.

Conclusion: Findings underscore the need for routine, universal screening for trauma and an integration of appropriate trauma-informed clinical interventions into middle schools’ multitiered systems of support, especially because early adolescence is proximal to the highest risk period for trauma.