Psychological effects of attack on the World Trade Center: analysis before and after

Abstract

Four different studies using a total sample of 711 from the same New York City student population tested a model that has emerged from previous research on disasters. The model suggests that postdisaster psychological distress is a function of exposure to the disaster, predisaster psychological distress, acute distress following the disaster, time elapsed between disaster and observation of distress, and additional traumatic experiences since the disaster. Although findings replicate those of previous cross-sectional studies regarding association of exposure and distress after the disaster, before and after studies did not detect an effect on postdisaster psychological distress of the World Trade Center attack. Great caution must be used in attributing elevated psychological distress observed postdisaster to the effects of the disaster.