TY - JOUR
T1 - Conservative shift among high-exposure survivors of the september 11th terrorist attacks
AU - Bonanno, George A.
AU - Jost, John T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the participants of this study for allowing us to question them so freely regarding their experiences during and after the 9/11 attacks. The research described in this article was supported by Grants BCS–0202772 and BCS–0337643 from the National Science Foundation to George A. Bonanno.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Potentially traumatic events evoke a wide range of responses and outcomes. From a motivated social cognitive approach to ideology, system-threatening events such as 9/11 should increase psychological needs to manage uncertainty and threat and, therefore, the appeal of politically conservative opinions. We investigated "conservative shift" among high-exposure survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (n = 45) and its relationship to coping and adjustment. Results indicated that Democrats and Independents (as well as Republicans) were more likely to shift toward conservatism and away from liberalism following 9/11. Despite its prevalence, we found relatively little evidence that embracing conservatism was related to improved well-being as measured either in terms of survivors' mental health symptoms or friends-relatives' ratings of their psychological adjustment. On the contrary, political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, and conservative shift were generally associated with the following: chronically elevated levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, desire for revenge and militarism, cynicism, and decreased use of humor. Conservative shift was also associated with increased religiosity, patriotism, and the perception that the events of 9/11 created new interests and opportunities, suggesting that it may contain some adaptive (as well as maladaptive) features.
AB - Potentially traumatic events evoke a wide range of responses and outcomes. From a motivated social cognitive approach to ideology, system-threatening events such as 9/11 should increase psychological needs to manage uncertainty and threat and, therefore, the appeal of politically conservative opinions. We investigated "conservative shift" among high-exposure survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (n = 45) and its relationship to coping and adjustment. Results indicated that Democrats and Independents (as well as Republicans) were more likely to shift toward conservatism and away from liberalism following 9/11. Despite its prevalence, we found relatively little evidence that embracing conservatism was related to improved well-being as measured either in terms of survivors' mental health symptoms or friends-relatives' ratings of their psychological adjustment. On the contrary, political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, and conservative shift were generally associated with the following: chronically elevated levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, desire for revenge and militarism, cynicism, and decreased use of humor. Conservative shift was also associated with increased religiosity, patriotism, and the perception that the events of 9/11 created new interests and opportunities, suggesting that it may contain some adaptive (as well as maladaptive) features.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34248393566&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34248393566&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1207/s15324834basp2804_4
DO - 10.1207/s15324834basp2804_4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34248393566
SN - 0197-3533
VL - 28
SP - 311
EP - 323
JO - Basic and Applied Social Psychology
JF - Basic and Applied Social Psychology
IS - 4
ER -