TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating the effects of september 11th and other forms of violence on the mental health and social development of New York City’s youth
T2 - A matter of context
AU - Aber, J. Lawrence
AU - Gershoff, Elizabeth T.
AU - Ware, Angelica
AU - Kotler, Jennifer A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Middle childhood data for this article come from the last wave of data collection of the original study (spring of 1996) that included Grade 2 through Grade 6 students from 15 schools participating in the evaluation. Twelve of the schools were in Brooklyn, with the remaining 3 in upper Manhattan. Students who were severely mentally or physically challenged, as identified by school principals, were excluded from the study. Otherwise, all students in each of the 15 participating schools were included in the study unless a “refusal to participate” form was returned by a parent or signed by a student, or if the student was discharged from the school. (This passive consent procedure, approved by both the Office of Educational Research at the New York City Board of Education and the Institutional Review Board of Columbia University, was voluntarily implemented following a waiver of active consent based on a Single Project Assurance submitted to the Office for Protection from Research Risks of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.) Child report data were collected by a multiracial field research team using classroom-based group administration procedures during classroom periods, whereas teacher report data on children were collected from individual teachers at the end of each data collection wave. A total of 11,160 children participated in this study in at least one wave across the two evaluation years. (See Aber et al., 1998 for a full description of the design and rationale of the evaluation; see Aber et al., 2003, and Brown et al., 2004, for summaries of the results from the middle childhood evaluation.)
Funding Information:
WewishtothankthecollaborationamongtheNewYorkCityDepart-ment of Education, Applied Research Consulting, LLC, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, especially Dr. Christina Hoven, for allowing us to use their measureoftheimpactofSeptember11thonNewYorkCitypublicschool children. We also wish to thank Jim Mercy and Rodney Hammond in the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for helping to secure supplemental funding for a module of questionsrelatedtoSeptember11th,andtothankIreneStrum,HenrySol-omon, and Rosaria Caporrimo at the New York City Department of Education for their assistance in maintaining contact with this longitudinal sample. We thank our tireless group of interviewers who conducted the interviewsandthewonderfuladolescentsandparentswhoparticipatedin the study. This work was conducted while J. Lawrence Aber was director of the National Center for Children in Poverty and Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and was funded through grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCR218598) and from the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH63685) awarded to the first and second authors. Elizabeth T. Gershoff is now at the University of Michigan, School of Social Work; Angelica Ware and Jennifer A. Kotler are now at Sesame Workshop. Richard M. Lerner served as Action Editor for this article.
Funding Information:
We wish to thank the collaboration among the New York City Department of Education, Applied Research Consulting, LLC, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, especially Dr. Christina Hoven, for allowing us to use their measure of the impact of September 11th on New York City public school children. We also wish to thank Jim Mercy and Rodney Hammondin the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for helping to secure supplemental funding for a module of questions related to September 11th, and to thank Irene Strum, Henry Solomon, and Rosaria Caporrimo at the New York City Department of Education for their assistance in maintaining contact with this longitudinal sample. We thank our tireless group of interviewers who conducted the interviews and the wonderful adolescents and parents who participated in the study. This work was conducted while J. Lawrence Aberwas director of the National Center for Children in Poverty and Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and was funded through grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCR218598) and from the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH63685) awarded to the first and second authors. Elizabeth T. Gershoff is now at the University of Michigan, School of Social Work; Angelica Ware and Jennifer A. Kotler are now at Sesame Workshop. Richard M. Lerner served as Action Editor for this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
PY - 2004/7/1
Y1 - 2004/7/1
N2 - This longitudinal study examines the effects of exposure to the terrorist attack of September 11th as well as exposure to other forms of community violence on change in the mental health and social attitudes of youths in New York City. Three quarters of the youths reported some form of direct exposure to the events of September 11th, and 80% reported a lot of exposure to at least 1 form of media coverage of September 11th; these rates were comparable with the citywide survey of public school students in New York City conducted by the New York City Department of Education. Results of a structural equation model that included controls for previous levels of mental health and social attitudes, as well as a range of demographic factors, indicated that direct exposure and family exposure to the event did not predict change in any mental health outcomes, but did predict change in levels of social mistrust; media exposure did predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. In contrast, victimization by other forms of violence was strongly associated with change in or current levels of all of the examined mental health symptoms, whereas witnessing other forms of violence was associated with change in or levels of 3 of 4 mental health symptoms and with increased hostile attribution bias and levels of social mistrust. Implications of the results for applied developmental and public mental health strategies in response to traumatic events are discussed.
AB - This longitudinal study examines the effects of exposure to the terrorist attack of September 11th as well as exposure to other forms of community violence on change in the mental health and social attitudes of youths in New York City. Three quarters of the youths reported some form of direct exposure to the events of September 11th, and 80% reported a lot of exposure to at least 1 form of media coverage of September 11th; these rates were comparable with the citywide survey of public school students in New York City conducted by the New York City Department of Education. Results of a structural equation model that included controls for previous levels of mental health and social attitudes, as well as a range of demographic factors, indicated that direct exposure and family exposure to the event did not predict change in any mental health outcomes, but did predict change in levels of social mistrust; media exposure did predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. In contrast, victimization by other forms of violence was strongly associated with change in or current levels of all of the examined mental health symptoms, whereas witnessing other forms of violence was associated with change in or levels of 3 of 4 mental health symptoms and with increased hostile attribution bias and levels of social mistrust. Implications of the results for applied developmental and public mental health strategies in response to traumatic events are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1207/s1532480xads0803_2
DO - 10.1207/s1532480xads0803_2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:47049107231
SN - 1088-8691
VL - 8
SP - 111
EP - 129
JO - Applied Developmental Science
JF - Applied Developmental Science
IS - 3
ER -