Iranian Journal of War and Public Health

Aims: The secondary PTSD is a type of post trauma stress disorders that can throw other family members into mental disorders. It is supposed that the secondary PTSD might lead to some educational problems, such as the decline in the academic performance and motivation, in the children of such families. The aim of the study was to investigate the roles of the secondary PTSD and resilience in the academic performance and motivations in the veterans’ children.

Instrument & Methods: In the correlational descriptive-analytic study, 187 high-school students, who were the children of veterans, were studied in Ardacan and Meybod townships in the academic year 2014-15. The subjects were selectd by available sampling method. Data was collected using the secondary trauma stress scale (STSS), the resilience scale (CD-RICS), and the academic motivation scale (AMS), as well as the students’ semester GPAs. Data was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis tests.

Findings: The secondary PTSD significantly and reversely correlated with performance (r=-0.37) and the academic motivation (r=-0.39). Nevertheless, resilience significantly and positively correlated with performance (r=0.54) and the academic motivation (r=0.56; p<0.01). In addition, the secondary PTSD and resilience could predict the students’ motivation and academic performance, showing a stronger predicting role for resilience than the secondary PTSD (p<0.05). 

Conclusion: The secondary PTSD and resilience might have a significant role in the prediction of the motivation and the academic performance in the students who are veternas’ children.