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Parent-Reported Child Reactions to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Attacks (New York USA) in Relation to Parent Post-Disaster Psychopathology Three Years After the Event

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2018

Betty Pfefferbaum Open the ORCID record for Betty Pfefferbaum [Opens in a new window] ,
Zorica Simic  and
Carol S. North
Betty Pfefferbaum*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OklahomaUSA
Zorica Simic
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TexasUSA
Carol S. North
Affiliation:
Metrocare Services and Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TexasUSA
*
Correspondence: Betty Pfefferbaum, MD, JD Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences College of Medicine University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center 920 Stanton L. Young Boulevard, WP 3417 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA 73126-0901 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Introduction

Parents are a primary support for children following disasters, even though they face numerous challenges in addressing the physical and social consequences of an event. Parents who are directly exposed to a disaster and those who develop psychiatric disorders post-event are likely to be especially challenged and may be limited in their ability to support their children. This Brief Report describes a pilot study of survivors of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center (New York USA) attacks who reported their own psychosocial consequences and the reactions of their children three years post-event.

Hypotheses

The primary hypothesis of the study was that children’s September 11th reactions would be associated with their parents’ psychiatric status. Secondary hypotheses were that the children’s disaster reactions would be associated with direct exposure to the disaster in children and/or their parents, parent-child separation due to the disaster, and disaster-related school absence.

Methods

Approximately three years after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, 116 parents recruited from disaster-affected or disaster-related organizations were assessed using structured diagnostic interviews and queried about their children’s (188 youths, aged three to 17 years at the time of the attacks) posttraumatic stress symptoms and behavioral changes.

Results

Almost one-half of the parents had a post-disaster psychiatric disorder, including major depression in 27% and disaster-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 11%. More than three-fourths of the children had at least one disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptom, and more than one-half experienced at least one post-disaster behavior change. A minority of the children were reported to have increased school behavior problems or a decline in their grades. Key correlates of children’s disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and post-disaster behavior changes were parent-child separation due to the disaster and parental post-disaster psychiatric disorders.

Conclusion

Because parents provide primary caretaking and support for children post-disaster, addressing the needs of parents is critical to their ability to assist their children. Reducing parents’ symptoms should increase their emotional availability and enhance their ability to address the needs of their children. Given the challenges in providing disaster interventions directly to children, especially when resources are limited, addressing parent psychopathology and distress (even in the absence of focusing on children’s symptoms) may benefit children.

PfefferbaumB, SimicZ, NorthCS. Parent-Reported Child Reactions to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Attacks (New York USA) in Relation to Parent Post-Disaster Psychopathology Three Years After the Event. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(5):558–564.

Keywords

childrendisasterparentsSeptember 11 attacksterrorism
Type
Brief Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 33 , Issue 5 , October 2018 , pp. 558 - 564
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2018 

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest/funding: This research was supported in part by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA) and Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice (Washington, DC USA), Department of Justice award MIPT106-113-2000-020 (Dr. Pfefferbaum); and by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; Bethesda, Maryland USA) grant MH68853 (Dr. North). The authors report no conflicts of interest which might be interpreted as influencing the research or compromising ethical standards. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of MIPT, NIMH, US Department of Justice, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA), Metrocare Services (Dallas, Texas USA), or The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, Texas USA).

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