Abstract
This study examined age and gender differences and similarities in stress responses to September 11th. Adolescents, young adults, and adults reported using a variety of strategies to cope with the terrorist attacks including acceptance, positive thinking, and emotional expression. In addition, involuntary stress responses such as physiological arousal, rumination, and emotional numbing were common. A number of age trends emerged, showing increases across the three groups in emotion-based coping strategies and decreases in some forms of disengagement coping. In addition, rumination decreased with age, whereas intrusive thoughts were more prevalent in the older groups. Females in both the adolescent and young adult samples reported using emotion-based strategies more than males, and these strategies were related to better functioning for females only. In addition, males reported higher levels of disengagement responses; and these responses were related to worse functioning, but only for females. The utility of using the Responses to Stress Questionnaire (Connor-Smith, Compas, Wadsworth, Thomsen, & Saltzman, 2000) to examine coping and involuntary stress responses in reference to terrorism and across a wide age range was examined. Implications for coping theory and empirical research are explored.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 143-157 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Applied Developmental Science |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2004 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Applied Psychology
- Life-span and Life-course Studies
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Coping with terrorism : Age and gender differences in effortful and involuntary responses to september 11th. / Wadsworth, Martha E.; Gudmundsen, Gretchen R.; Raviv, Tali; Ahlkvist, Jarl A.; McIntosh, Daniel N.; Kline, Galena H.; Rea, Jacqueline; Burwell, Rebecca A.
In: Applied Developmental Science, Vol. 8, No. 3, 01.07.2004, p. 143-157.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Coping with terrorism
T2 - Age and gender differences in effortful and involuntary responses to september 11th
AU - Wadsworth, Martha E.
AU - Gudmundsen, Gretchen R.
AU - Raviv, Tali
AU - Ahlkvist, Jarl A.
AU - McIntosh, Daniel N.
AU - Kline, Galena H.
AU - Rea, Jacqueline
AU - Burwell, Rebecca A.
PY - 2004/7/1
Y1 - 2004/7/1
N2 - This study examined age and gender differences and similarities in stress responses to September 11th. Adolescents, young adults, and adults reported using a variety of strategies to cope with the terrorist attacks including acceptance, positive thinking, and emotional expression. In addition, involuntary stress responses such as physiological arousal, rumination, and emotional numbing were common. A number of age trends emerged, showing increases across the three groups in emotion-based coping strategies and decreases in some forms of disengagement coping. In addition, rumination decreased with age, whereas intrusive thoughts were more prevalent in the older groups. Females in both the adolescent and young adult samples reported using emotion-based strategies more than males, and these strategies were related to better functioning for females only. In addition, males reported higher levels of disengagement responses; and these responses were related to worse functioning, but only for females. The utility of using the Responses to Stress Questionnaire (Connor-Smith, Compas, Wadsworth, Thomsen, & Saltzman, 2000) to examine coping and involuntary stress responses in reference to terrorism and across a wide age range was examined. Implications for coping theory and empirical research are explored.
AB - This study examined age and gender differences and similarities in stress responses to September 11th. Adolescents, young adults, and adults reported using a variety of strategies to cope with the terrorist attacks including acceptance, positive thinking, and emotional expression. In addition, involuntary stress responses such as physiological arousal, rumination, and emotional numbing were common. A number of age trends emerged, showing increases across the three groups in emotion-based coping strategies and decreases in some forms of disengagement coping. In addition, rumination decreased with age, whereas intrusive thoughts were more prevalent in the older groups. Females in both the adolescent and young adult samples reported using emotion-based strategies more than males, and these strategies were related to better functioning for females only. In addition, males reported higher levels of disengagement responses; and these responses were related to worse functioning, but only for females. The utility of using the Responses to Stress Questionnaire (Connor-Smith, Compas, Wadsworth, Thomsen, & Saltzman, 2000) to examine coping and involuntary stress responses in reference to terrorism and across a wide age range was examined. Implications for coping theory and empirical research are explored.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33947259097&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33947259097&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1207/s1532480xads0803_4
DO - 10.1207/s1532480xads0803_4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33947259097
VL - 8
SP - 143
EP - 157
JO - Applied Developmental Science
JF - Applied Developmental Science
SN - 1088-8691
IS - 3
ER -