Latent structure of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in an adolescent sample one month after an earthquake

• A 5-factor PTSD model fit significantly than two well-supported 4-factor models.
• Intrusion, avoidance and anxious arousal factors showed higher correlation with anxiety than depression.
• Numbing factor showed higher correlations with depression than anxiety.
• Dysphoric arousal factor showed no difference in correlation with depression and anxiety.

Increasing empirical studies suggest that the tripartite posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) model described in the DSM-IV does not accurately account for the underlying PTSD factor structure, and several alternative models have been proposed. The present study investigated a newly refined, five-factor model of PTSD symptoms in a sample of Chinese adolescent survivors of an earthquake. A total of 1198 middle school students (653 females, 526 males) with a mean age of 14.4 years (SD = 1.1, range: 11–18) participated in this study one month after an earthquake. The novel five-factor model comprised of intrusion, avoidance, numbing, dysphoric arousal, and anxious arousal demonstrated significantly better fit than two alternative four-factor models. Further analyses revealed differentiable relations between the PTSD factors and external measures of anxiety and depression. These findings provide empirical support for the robustness of five-factor model, and carry implications for further reorganization of PTSD criteria.