How did media coverage affect your experience of the World Trade Center attacks?

If you were glued to the TV set last September 11 and in the following days, chances are the horrific events of that day affected you more than those who avoided the media coverage.

That's one of the findings of a study conducted by UCFV psychology student Mark Lewis, under the guidance of Professor Ron Laye. Lewis and Dr. Laye were curious about the effects of media exposure on psychological and physical health reactions to the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York .

"Other research showed that the degree of suffering related to these events falls off as you move more geographically distant from them, with those who had direct exposure suffering the worst," says Dr. Laye. "But people who don't have a direct connection still do feel affected, and may have health consequences, especially in the in cases of heavy media coverage."

Dr. Laye and Lewis surveyed two groups of UCFV students in first‑year psychology courses: one in March and one in June. Participants completed a questionnaire about the amount of television, internet, and other indirect exposure to the WTC attacks they were exposed to, and related psycho‑social impacts.  They also completed a scale to measure coping skills.

"Both studies found a moderate correlation between the amount of media exposure and perceived ‘loss of agency’, where agency is the feeling of control over one's own life and a general optimism," says Dr. Laye. "There was a smaller but still significant relationship between media exposure and the ‘loss of social support’, which taps dissatisfaction with the actions of self and others, including the government."

The study also found that people with good "coping skills" were less affected by the September 11 events, and that these people also tended to minimize their exposure to media coverage of the events.

"But even when we compare people with equal coping skills, there is still a relation between the amount of media exposure and the degree of perceived loss of agency," says Dr. Laye.

In the second study, questions designed to measure physical and emotional symptoms in the month following September 11 were added.  Media exposure was a stronger predictor of both physical and emotional symptoms than were coping style, gender, or age.

Although the majority of survey respondents were under age 21, those above that age showed generally stronger effects. As well, a preliminary analysis suggests that the psychological effects of media exposure were greater for females. Further research is required to more certain about how the media presentation of dramatically negative events, such at the WTC terrorist attacks, affect people according to age and gender.

Dr. Robin White of the UCFV Psychology department helped design survey questions related to media exposure for the study, and UBC doctoral student Aviva Laye assisted with data analysis.