title: Parents' retrospective reports of youth psychological responses to the sniper attacks in the Washington, DC, area.
abstract: A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted in May 2003, with 355 parents of children ages 2-17 years old, living in Washington, DC, or in the two surrounding counties during the October 2002 sniper shootings, to examine parent retrospective reports of child event-related psychological distress. An estimated 32% of parents reported that children experienced at least one psychological distress symptom related to sniper shootings. Older children, females, children with a history of trauma exposure prior to sniper attacks, children whose parents reported routine disruption as the result of attacks, children whose parents perceived them as at great risk for harm from sniper attacks, and those children whose parents reported more traumatic stress symptoms in response to attacks were at greatest risk for reported psychological distress.
authors.affiliation: Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA. sselfbrown@gsu.edu
authors.forename: Shannon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Self-Brown
authors.forename: Greta M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Massetti
authors.forename: Jieru
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schulden
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004219:District of Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms; D006801:Humans; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*