The effect of perceived social support of adolescents experiencing kahramanmaraş earthquake on post traumatic stress and depression levels

Aim: The study was conducted to examine the effect of perceived social support on post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in adolescents who experienced the earthquakes centred on Kahramanmaraş. Material and Method: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted on 525 adolescents aged 12-18 years who experienced the earthquakes centred in Kahramanmaraş. Child Information Form, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Scale for Children and Depression Scale for Children were used to collect the data. Number, percentage distribution, mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, Levene's test, Bonferroni's test, Tamhane's T2 test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and path analysis methods were used to analyse the data obtained. Results: Gender, economic status, level of post-traumatic stress and loss of a relative due to the earthquake were the factors that influenced the level of post-traumatic stress and depression. It was found that 33.5% of the participants had severe posttraumatic stress, 29.9% had moderate posttraumatic stress and 47.2% had depression. It was also found that the multidimensional perceived social support scale (β:0.07, p:0.003) played a mediating role in the effect of the child posttraumatic stress reaction scale on the child depression scale. Conclusion: This study revealed the presence of post-traumatic stress and depression symptoms in adolescents after the earthquake. It was also concluded that perceived social support plays an important role in coping with posttraumatic stress and depression after the earthquake. These findings provide valuable information for policy makers and health professionals to improve post-earthquake interventions. Keywords: Adolescent, Depression, Earthquake, Social support, Post-traumatic stress disorder.