Trauma psychology and effects on children of war

¶ … Psychology of Trauma Effects on Children of War

A review paper written in 2005 (Pine et al., 2005) focused on more than 50 years of research that had been conducted in regards to the psychological effect of war and terrorism on children. It concluded that some children will be exposed to war and terrorism in the U.S.A. And that PTSD may be a result experienced by many although not all of them. Of those who experience PTSD, many of them will have recovered within a year provided that their environment is safe.

The number of children directly exposed to terrorism with be relatively little. A far greater quantity will be indirectly exposed to terrorism through channels such as the media and other people. Based on the research that the authors have conducted, they urge surveillance of the amount and content of children's exposure to the media as well as exposure to frightened adults. Implications of exposure to indirect terrorism may result in nightmare and clinging, particularly of young children but these again, should not last long. The most important condition is parental reaction. The way that the parents react will influence children's response.

The most dangerous environments for children are those outside of the U.S.A. where children are faced directly with war and terrorism. Examples of these are Palestine, parts of the Middle East (such as Lebanon), and parts of Africa or in Belfast, Mozambique, and other refugee camps. Here the impact is far longer. More intense, and possibly irreversible with the children, himself sometimes turning to terrorism as a result.

Impact of terrorism and war on the child living in these environments causes him to distrust the very underpinnings of civilian life. In fact, the undermining of society has more of a psychological impact on the child than the trauma (only felt much later on) has. The child may react by affiliating himself with terrorists, forming gangs, or imitating the violent behavior of those around him.

Identify a question left unanswered by the research. Using the article as a model, design a research study to answer the question.

1. Research question

Countries experience differences in the intensity of their terrorist attacks and war experiences. Although the review article (Pine et al., 2005) stated that terrorism and war has an impact on people living with these war ridden countries, it would be interesting to investigate whether the same psychological impact effects children regardless of the intensity of the events that they experience. In other words, it would be interesting to see whether differences exist in response to violent vs. non-violent experiences of war / terrorism

2. Hypothesis (What do you expect the research to show?)

expectations of this research is that children exposed to more intensive experiences of terrorism and war will more likely experience the kind of response described by (Pine et al., 2005), namely causing child to distrust the very underpinnings of civilian life and reacting by afflicting himself with terrorists, forming gangs, or imitating the violent behavior of those around him.

3. Sample and sample size

I will test two populations of children living in Israel. One population will be children of a Jewish community living in Hebron that see violent attacks and terrorism on a regular scale. The other will be children of a Jewish community who live near to an E. Jerusalem Arab population, possibly in the Old City, where unrest (although not violent attacks) is experienced regularly. Children will be aged 6-16 of both genders. Based on a previous study (Allwood et al., 2002), 791 children will be used.

4. Methodology to be used

Assessment questionnaires (Impact of Event Scale, PTSD Reaction Index, Children's Depression Inventory, Child Behavior Checklist, and War Experience Questionnaire) will be used. All questionnaires will be translated into Hebrew.

5. How will you measure your results? How will you know if your hypothesis was supported or not?

I will measure results with the following instruments:

The Impact of Event Scale is a 15-item self-report measure which includes items such as "I had dreams about it."

The PTSD Reaction Index is an interviewer-based measure of traumatic stress reactions largely based on DSM diagnostic criteria for PTSD

The Child Behavior Checklist is a measure completed by teachers of children's adaptive and problem behaviors the Children's Depression Inventory, is a 27-item, self-rated measure of current depressive symptoms. Each item includes three statements (e.g., "I am sad once in a while," "I am sad many times," "I am sad all the time"). The child corroborates that that best describes him/her during the past 2 weeks