Children's narrative memory for accidents and their post-traumatic distress

This study examines how the quality of children's memory for a traumatic event is related to trauma-related distress and adjustment. Four to 7 weeks after an accident requiring hospitalisation, 80 children aged 7-16 were asked to provide a narrative memory of the event. Age and the quality of the memory report based on its lexical and cohesive structure accounted for a significant and sizable proportion of the variability in the children's intrusive symptoms about the event after considering trauma severity and the child's language ability and gender. There was no significant relationship between memory quality and event specific avoidant symptoms. Children who were troubled by intrusive symptoms at 4 to 7 weeks continue to seek personal control and mastery by cognitively making sense of their experiences. The study's implications for understanding the process of children's adaptation to such events and for the development of chronic problematic adjustment are discussed.