Children's Perspectives on Dealing With Traumatic Events

Understanding children's recovery after trauma is considered important, but existing theories are mainly based on adult research. We carried out semistructured interviews with 25 purposively sampled children (8–12 years old) exposed to single-incident trauma. The children had been affected by the event itself but also by a long aftermath with secondary stressors. Most children had recovered gradually, were impressed by and benefited from the social support they received, and displayed a wide range of coping behaviors (categorized under concentrating on the normal and the positive, avoiding risks and reminders, actively working through trauma, seeking support). Current theories need child-focused adjustments.