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Anxiety, Depressed Mood, Self-Esteem, and Traumatic Stress Symptoms among Distant Witnesses of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: Transitory Responses and Psychological Resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Georg E. Matt  and
Carmelo Vázquez
Georg E. Matt*
Affiliation:
San Diego State University (USA)
Carmelo Vázquez
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Georg E. Matt, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego CA 92182-4611, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Posttraumatic stress related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and general psychological distress were examined in six cohorts of college students (N=5,412) enrolled at an American public university between Spring 2000 and Fall 2002 some 2,500 miles from New York. Consistent with data from Schuster et al.'s (2001) national survey, which used a very low threshold criterion, our findings revealed that 44% of women and 32% of men experienced at least one symptom of posttraumatic stress 6-17 days after the attacks. In contrast to these results, depression levels showed only small differences, and self-esteem and trait anxiety showed no changes. Findings indicate that 9/11-related stress responses among distant witnesses were very mild, transitory and focused in scope, suggesting resilience with respect to broader psychological and psychopathological reactions. Findings are discussed with respect to the role of physical and psychological proximity on the reactions to traumatic events in the general population.

El estrés post-traumático relacionado con los atentados terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001, así como el malestar psicológico general se examinaron en seis cohortes de estudiantes universitarios (N=5.412) matriculados entre la primavera de 2000 y el otoño de 2002 en una universidad pública norteamericana distante 2.500 millas aproximadamente de Nueva York De modo consistente con los datos del estudio a nivel nacional de Schuster et al. (2001), donde se empleó un criterio de corte muy bajo, nuestros resultados fueron que el 44% de las mujeres y el 32% de los hombres experimentaron al menos un síntoma de estrés post-traumático entre 6-17 días después de los atentados. En contraste con estos resultados, los niveles de depresión mostraron únicamente pequeñas diferencias y en la auto-estima y la ansiedad de rasgo no se encontró cambio alguno. Nuestros hallazgos indican que, entre testigos distantes, las respuestas de estrés relacionadas con el 11/9 fueron muy débiles, transitorias y de alcance limitado, lo que sugiere resiliencia en lo referido a las reacciones psicológicas y psicopatológicas Estos hallazgos se discuten en relación con los efectos de la proximidad física y psicológica sobre las reacciones a hechos traumáticos en la población general.

Keywords

traumaterrorist attacksstressdepressionresilienceepidemiologytraumaatentados terroristasestrésdepresiónresilienciaepidemiología
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , November 2008 , pp. 503 - 515
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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