Friday, 14 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Trauma and Bereavement

Hope, Meaning, and Growth Following the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

Purpose: In U.S. history, September 11 will be remembered as the day of the violent terrorist attacks against civilians in a non-war zone. Popular discourse surmised that Americans were forever changed as a result of the attacks. The unprecedented tragedy altered our expectations for the future and purpose in life. Along with the devastating impacts, September 11 has also triggered other important areas of interest – character strengths and personal growth following a national trauma. Hence, this study investigated: (a) the association of character strengths (hope and spiritual meaning) with mental health symptoms (depression and anxiety), and (b) the personal changes or growth that may have occurred after September 11.

Methods: A sample of 457 students at three Schools of Social Work participated in the study. Students completed questionnaires that contained standardized measures (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, Trait Anxiety Inventory, Hope Scale, Meaning Scale, and Three-Factor Religiosity Scale), as well as newly developed items to assess peritraumatic emotional responses and the personal impact of September 11. The study achieved a 60% response rate. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among variables of interest, while qualitative methods were used to analyze an open-ended question that measured personal growth resulting from September 11.

Results: The majority of participants were woman (83%), non-Hispanic White (64%), and U.S. citizens (96%). The mean age was 29 years, ranging from 17-61 years old. The sample comprised 47% MSW students, 30% BSW students, and 23% pre-social work majors or other students enrolled in social work courses.

Depression was positively associated with negative emotions and September 11 reminding one of past traumatic experiences, such as being victim of a crime and having lost a close person. Depression was inversely related to positive emotions, hope, and spiritual meaning. Anxiety was positively associated with negative emotions, but inversely related to years of education, positive emotions, hope, and spiritual meaning.

Assessing respondents’ perceptions of personal change, four categories emerged. The first three were consistent with other studies that delineated categories of stress-related growth. These included changes in the self/behavior (n=78), changes in relationships with others (n=48), and changes in worldviews (n=87). The fourth category, unique to this study and the nature of September 11, was changes in political views (n=85). These results suggest that changes following September 11 could be negative or positive, and stress-related growth may be multi-dimensional.

Implications: The study presents insightful information regarding the positive effects of character strengths on mental health following September 11. In particular, hope and spiritual meaning may have resulted in lower levels of depression and anxiety after this tragic event. While more years of education seemed to be protective against anxiety, certain past traumatic experiences appeared to heighten the risk of depression. In addition, these findings offer further credence to the idea of positive change or growth resulting from trauma and demonstrate that the nature of the trauma (in this case, a political event) is also an important component that contributes to change.

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