Schuster
Schuster et al. (2001)
Stress responses to direct and indirect exposure to terrorism during 9/11
Aim:
To investigate the extent to which adult Americans suffered from stress symptoms in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
Procedure:
Participants were 560 adults living in the USA who were randomly selected. The researchers collected data through telephone interviews three to four days after the attacks. Five of the questions were related to PTSD.
Results:
Even indirect exposure to the terrorist attack could result in stress reactions – 90% of respondents said they experienced a little bit of stress, 68% said they were moderately stressed but 44% said they were very stressed. People who lived close to New York suffered from higher levels of stress overall.
Conclusions
- The study found that 36% of the respondents considered terrorism to be a very serious problem where they lived and 44% anticipated terrorist attacks in the next five years.
- The study found that, for some people, the level of stress was associated with how much they watched television. Extensive television watching correlated with high levels of stress because people perceived what they saw as a threat to personal safety. They appraised the situation as being dangerous to them personally and reacted to this perceived threat. This is consistent with the cognitive appraisal model of stress (Lazarus, 1975).