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NEW NATIONAL STUDY SHOWS DEGREE OF EXPOSURE TO 9/11 - RATHER THAN THE DEGREE OF LOSS -- PREDICTS LEVEL OF DISTRESS
WASHINGTON -- Psychologist Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D., will be presenting her new study, Coping with Stressful Life Events: Navigating in the Wake of 9/11 at the annual Capitol Hill Exhibit and Reception sponsored by the Coalition for National Science Funding (NSF), May 15, 2002 from 5:30 -- 7:30 pm at the Rayburn House Office Building.
Dr. Silver's current research examines the immediate and long-term emotional, cognitive, and social responses to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Using an anonymous Web-based survey methodology, Dr. Silver and colleagues have collected data from a national random sample of almost 1400 individuals and deliberately included over 400 people from four cities that have experienced community-based trauma (New York, NY, Oklahoma City, OK, Littleton/Denver, CO, and Miami, FL).
Based on data collected this past November, the researchers have found substantial mental health consequences of the attacks across the country (beyond New York City) and have seen fascinating differences in levels of distress across various communities. The degree of exposure to the 9/11 attacks (rather than degree of loss) appears to be a significant predictor of distress. Degree of exposure took into account the degree of proximity to the attacks in Washington, DC, New York City and Pennsylvania, the direct presence at the site versus in contact with someone in the buildings or on the planes and watching the events live on TV. Those with no firsthand experience of the attacks reported the least distress.
Many people have reported finding unexpected positive consequences in the wake of the attacks, such as closer relationships with family members and a greater appreciation of the freedoms our country offers its residents. Moreover, it appears that the early use of several specific coping strategies, such as denial and "giving up the attempt to cope or giving up trying to deal with it", predicts heightened distress over time, while the use of religion and support-seeking is associated with higher levels of positive emotion.
Dr. Silver has conducted research over the past two decades among numerous groups of people who have encountered traumatic life events. The NSF, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the U.S. Public Health Service (Bureau of Maternal and Child Health) have funded her work. She has examined psychosocial reactions to permanent physical disability, loss of a spouse or a child, childhood sexual victimization, divorce, domestic violence, war, and natural disaster. Recent NSF-funded projects include a study of coping among residents from communities devastated by the southern California firestorms and an investigation of acute responses to trauma among students and parents following the Columbine High School shootings.
Dr. Silver is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, where she is also Associate Director of the Newkirk Center for Science and Society. Before and after May 15, Dr. Silver can be reached at [email protected] or 949-824-2192.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 155,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.
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