World Trade Center Exposure and Posttraumatic Growth: Assessing Positive Psychological Change 15 Years after 9/11

Cristina D. Pollari, Jennifer Brite, Robert M. Brackbill, Lisa M. Gargano, Shane W. Adams, Pninit Russo-Netzer, Jonathan Davidov, Victoria Banyard and James E. Cone
Additional contact information
Cristina D. Pollari: Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Jennifer Brite: Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Robert M. Brackbill: Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Lisa M. Gargano: Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Shane W. Adams: Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, NY 10019, USA
Pninit Russo-Netzer: Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Jonathan Davidov: Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Victoria Banyard: School of Social Work, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
James E. Cone: Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: We evaluated the presence of posttraumatic growth (PTG) among survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attack and how indicators of psychosocial well-being, direct 9/11-related exposure, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) relate to PTG. PTG was examined among 4934 participants using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to determine if the original factor structure of the PTGI fits our data and principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the appropriate factor structure. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association between PTG and indicators of psychosocial well-being, 9/11-related exposure, and PTSS, controlling for covariates. CFA identified a two-factor structure of the PTGI as a better fit than the original five-factor model. Participants who experienced very high 9/11-related exposure level (ß = 7.72; 95% CI: 5.75–9.70), higher PTSS at waves 1 (ß = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.08–0.18) and 2 (ß = 0.09; 95% CI: 0.05–0.14), high social integration (ß = 5.71; 95% CI: 4.47, 6.96), greater social support (ß = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.61), and higher self-efficacy (ß = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.48) had higher PTGI scores. Our findings suggest PTG is present, 15 years following the 9/11 terrorist attack. Very high-level 9/11 exposure, PTSS, and indicators of psychosocial well-being were associated with PTG.

Keywords: disaster; World Trade Center; 9/11; posttraumatic growth; well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/104/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/104/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:104-:d:468508

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().