June 6, 2005

Purdue education expert addresses long-term effects of 9/11 trauma

High school students who are now new graduates have assimilated the tragic events surrounding Sept. 11, 2001, into their lives because it happened when they were at an important stage of their development, according to a Purdue University counseling and development expert.

Jean Peterson, associate professor in educational studies, began a national study in March 2002 that asked gifted eighth-graders about their experience in relation to being victims or perpetrators of bullying. The study supplied her with data about what children think about violence just six months after the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"High school students are very impressionable. And bright kids have a strong sense of social justice – not in a punitive sense but in holding to an ideal of the way things ought to be in society, with people working together to make the world better," Peterson says. "Terrorism, war and brutality are very difficult for many of them to understand and accept. Even though statistics show youth violence has been declining, an event such as 9/11 tends to have a ripple effect, and we need to continue monitoring posttraumatic effects. There is a perception that we have more to fear."

Students indicated the top four areas that worried them the most were:

• grades and school;

• terrorism, world events and war;

• friends and family; and

• violence in general.

Peterson said schools are being vigilant about setting up systems to help students handle the stresses of modern life, and she hopes her study will arm administrators with information they can use to continue that support.

Peterson can talk about a broad range of topics related to violence and trauma. Her study on how bullying can lead to violence will be published in a few months.

Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu

Source: Jean Peterson, (765) 494-9742, jeanp@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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