Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Pervasive exposure to mass violence, such as war and terrorism, has caused increasing interest and concern about the well being of children. Children exposed to mass violence exhibit symptoms of posttraumatic stress with functional impairment that may be long-term and seriously interrupt healthy child development. The present investigation examines the nature of children's coping after exposure to terrorism, including correlates of various types of coping, degree of flexibility in coping, and perceived coping effectiveness. Utilizing a sample selected from 38 public schools in five zones spread evenly across ten school divisions plus four private schools, 694 middle school children exposed to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya were surveyed 8-10 months following the event. Factor analysis confirmed three types of coping strategies. Structural equation modeling analyses confirmed diverse correlates of each construct examined. Receipt of coping resources was predicted by gender, significant losses, degree of physical exposure, previous trauma exposure, and peritraumatic reaction. Flexibility in coping was predicted by gender, peritraumatic reaction, grief, and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Overall coping effectiveness was predicted by gender, previous trauma exposure, and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. The reciprocal relationships between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and both coping flexibility and coping effectiveness were confirmed with greater flexibility in coping associated with lower posttraumatic symptom severity. Different types of coping strategies and the degree of usage was also differentially predicted by child age, losses, previous exposure to trauma, peritraumatic reaction, receipt of four types of coping resources, and severity of posttraumatic symptoms. These findings expand our understanding of how children cope and the factors that contribute to differential types of coping. Such knowledge can assist in the development of early identification of those in need of early intervention along with development of interventions specific to enhancement of the use of effective coping strategies and flexibility in coping to promote resiliency. Main points to be covered in presentation include a review of knowledge regarding children's coping following mass violence and disaster, study methodology, findings, and implications for practice, policy, and future research.

Learning Objectives Overarching goal of research: Examination of the nature of children's coping following exposure to terrorism. Specific Learning Objectives: · Participants will be able to identify factors contributing to children's receipt of various types of coping resources following exposure to terrorism; · Participants will enhance their knowledge of the factors that contribute to the use of different types of coping strategies, children's flexibility in use of coping strategies, and their perceived effectiveness; and · Participants will be able to use the coping model as a foundation for future intervention and research.