Terrorism: The psychological impact on youth.

Abstract

Research on the psychological impact of terrorism on youth is reviewed and evaluated. Children having proximal contact with terrorism show elevated posttraumatic stress, separation anxiety, and/or other symptoms. Following a terrorist attack, youth proximal and distal to the attack are exposed to a vast amount of attackrelated media coverage and exposure to such media coverage is associated with postattack posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. However, the research is inchoate, including an insufficient scope and methodological limitations. Research has yet to examine the impact that exposure to an extended context of threat, expectation, and alert has on child development. Importantly, how are children influenced by secondhand terrorism -the context in which cultural influences disproportionately attend to the possibilities , rather than probabilities , of future terrorism? Research is needed to evaluate the impact of terrorism on psychopathology (beyond PTSD), functional impairment, and ethnic stereotyping in youth, and to examine the efficacy of psychological programs that strive to redress the problems of youth affected by terrorism.

Adjustment Among Area Youth After the Boston Marathon Bombing and Subsequent Manhunt

“…Given the unpredictable nature of terrorism, the vast majority of terrorismrelated studies are understandably initiated after the attack, but future work will benefit from researchers with incidental preexisting data in affected communities collecting postattack data on their existing samples. 2 Fourth, information on child gender was not collected in the present survey, and thus the impact of gender on study variables cannot be currently assessed. Finally, data were from parents/caretakers.…”

“…Elevated rates of posttraumatic stress have been the most frequently identified outcome among terrorism-exposed populations, 2,16 but this may be in part because it is PTSD that is most often assessed. 17 Comprehensive surveys assessing a full range of emotional and behavioral problems after terrorism, such as in this investigation, are needed to optimally inform clinical efforts for affected youth.…”

“…Although these findings are correlational, they are consistent with growing evidence documenting the considerable negative impact that such indirect contact with terrorism can have. 2,18,19 Despite needs for live information during disasters, increasing evidence suggests parents should minimize children' s mediabased exposure to whatever extent possible. Given the unpredictable nature of terrorism, the vast majority of terrorismrelated studies are understandably initiated after the attack, but future work will benefit from researchers with incidental preexisting data in affected communities collecting postattack data on their existing samples.…”

“…In recent years, there have been several high-profile terrorist attacks specifically targeting civilian child and family venues (eg, Russia' s Beslan school hostage crisis, Norway' s Workers' Youth League camp attack, Nairobi' s Westgate Mall attack). Although research has documented the psychological toll of terrorism on youth, [1][2][3][4] the majority of such work has focused on attacks targeting office buildings of high symbolic value, 3,[5][6][7] where the presence of families has been incidental. Much remains to be learned about the reactions of children affected by terrorism specifically aimed at "soft targets" such as family events.…”

“…Moreover, the majority of research on terrorism-exposed youth has examined large-scale attacks with mass casualties (eg, 9/11). 2,3,[5][6][7] Minimal research has examined children' s reactions to high-profile terrorism with relatively few fatalities.…”