Keywords: terrorism, catastrophizing, perceived stress, dealh anxiety

Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology20tH, Vol. 8, No.2. 132 - 144

Rabia Nayab and Anila KamalNational Institute of Psychology

Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad

The devastation of terrorism isrestricted to how people feel inwake of ongoing terror altaiApprehension of future terreattacks can also be enormOldevastating in terms of cognifunctioning. There is a wide literaland polling evidence (Kramer, BraSpielman, Giosan, & Rothrock, 2Con fear of future terrorism amongpublic, although some stUIconducted right after 9111 have sh(some declining of pathology and:of terrorism after it rose immediafollowing the attacks (Galea et2003; Schuster et a!., 2003). Ttfears went up largely after I11i

terrorist attacks, such as folio"those in Bali in 2002, Madrid in 2Cand London in 2005 (Polling Rep2005). A research indicatedterrorism catastrophizing has proto be a significant predictorbehavioral change and of symptom:anxiety, depression, physiologstress and mortality salience amsurvivors of terror attacks (SinclaiLoCicero, 2007).

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan hproduced an immense and ongckind of insecurity among thc publilthis dread hampered their routineas well as financial. setup. 11'revealed ina Gallup survey condu(by Ihe end of 2009 that nearlypercent of citizens in Pakistaniinsecurity and show hesitationvisiting crowded places. An imparlstudy conducted by Pakistan Instilfor Peace Studies (PIPS) onimpact of lerrorism on the activitielthe people has shown that panicapprehension due to terrorism i~causal factor of dysfunctiobehavior of people III wh

has taken the lives of over 10,267innocen! people over the past fiveyears, according 10 an eslimale.During 2008, Pakistan was at the topof the eounlries with deaths by suicidebombing (Khan, 2009).

There are various definitions forthe term "Catastrophizing", asaccording to Sullivan, Bishop, andPivik (1995), it involves an inflatednegative orientation loward somedeleterious stimuli. Chavez andBrown (1987) considered catastroph-izing as the maximization of andworry about particular negative lifeevents. Spanos, Radtke-Bodorik, andFerguson (1979) have argued thateataslrophizing involves thinkingalways focused on the negative evenlsand it is one of the most basic causalmental process that can lead to diverseforms of psychopathology, in whichanxiety and depression are common(Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979;Garnefski, Teerds, Kraaij, Legerstee,& Van den Kommer, 2004).

The model of psychopathology(Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979)is beneficial in comprchendingparticular phenomena which are abasis of how people arrange andcompose their experiences and howparticular fotms of mentaldisorganization, which arc also calledcognit,ive distortions, can lead anindividual to various mental diseases.Viewing terrorism under theperspectives explained by thesemodels of catastrophizing, it IS

assumed that major mass-casualIyattacks like 911 I create an intensedeath salience that vitally changespublic's views about security anddefense (as cited in Sinclair &LoCicero, 2007).

'~

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING

The phenomenon of terrorism hassignificantly changed the SOCIO-

economic and geo-political set-up ofthe world after the event of 9/11 (Ali,2008).

In Pakistan, terrorism hasemerged as a social evil and a majorproblem especially in the year 2009.Pakistan is continuously confrontingmajor terrorist attacks despite the factthat it is a country which is front linestate in war against terrorism. Theseterrorist attacks have destroyed socialfabric and economy and badlyaffected the political system of thecountry. Terrorist activities in theform of suicide bombings throughoutPakistan over the past few years havebeen a major issue. The scandaloustechnique adopled by terrorist groups

Ms. Rabia Nayab. MPhil Student andProf. Dr. Anil<l Kamal, Director, Nationallnstitute of Psychology, Quaid.i-AzamUniversiLy, Islamuhad, Pukistan,

Correspondence concerning this articleshould be addressed to Ms. Rabia Nayab,National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, New Campus, Islamabad,Pakistan. Email: mashaleraah@yahoo,com

Disasters, whether natural or man-made, have become the most strikingissue of the 21" century. Terrorism,which is considered to be a man-madedisaster and is much difficult todefine, is mas! smoldering issue of themedia. At present, the world isencountering terrorism in differentforms and scenarios.

If' .. d IThe current research studied the impsct 0 terronsm on university stu en sthrough terrorism catastrophizing, perceived stress, and death anxiety. Thestudy W;lS based on cross-seclional research design. 430 university students(men :;;:183, women :;;: 247) from universities of Peshawar, Islamabad,Rawalpindi, Multan, and Bahawalpur were recruited through purposivesampling. Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale (Sinclair & LoCicero, 2007),Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) and DeathAnxiety Scale (Goreja & Pervez, 2000) were used. Comparison was madeamong students regarding their gender and universities. Pearson correlationshowed a high significant positive correlation belween terrorismcatastrophizing. perceived stress, and death anxiety. Results also indicaled thatboth male and female students felt high terrorism catastrophizing and highstress; female students were found to be more anxious of death than malestudents. Students of Peshawar University were found to be more anxious aboutdeath as compared to other universily students. Stepwise multiple regressionsrevealed terrorism catastrophizing and perceived stress as significanL predictorsof deaLh anxiety among university students.

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING, PERCEIVEDSTRESS AND DEATH ANXIETY AMONG

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

.'

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING 133

'ED

m hassoclo-

-up ofI (Ali,

hasmajor2009.'onting1e factnt lineThesesocialbadlyof then theJghoutshavedalous~roups

has taken the lives of over 10,267innocent people over the past fiveyears, according to an estimate.During 2008, Pakistan was at the topof the countries with deaths by suicidebombing (Khan, 2009).

There are various definitions forthe term "Catastrophizing", asaccording to Sullivan, Bishop, andPivik (1995), it involves an inflatednegative orientation toward somedeleterious stimuli. Chavez andBrown (1987) considered catastroph-izing as the maximization of andworry about particular negative lifeevents. Spanos, Radtke-Bodorik, andFerguson (1979) have argued thatcatastrophizing involves thinkingalways focused on the negative eventsand it is one of the most basic causalmental process that can lead to diverseforms of psychopathology, in whichanxiety and depression are common(Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979;Garnefski, Teerds, Kraaij, Legerstee,& Van den Kommer, 2004).

The model of psychopathology(Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979)IS beneficial in comprehendingpat1icular phenomena which are abasis of how people arrange andcompose their experiences and howparticular forms of mentaldisorganization, which are also calledcognitive distortions, can lead anindividual to various mental diseases.Viewing terrorism under theperspectives explained by thesemodels of catastrophizing, it isassumed that major mass-casualtyattacks like 9/11 create an intensedeath salience that vitally changespublic's views about security anddefense (as cited in Sinclair &LoCicero, 2007).

The devastation of terrorism is notrestricted to how people feel in thewake of ongoing terror attacks.Apprehension of future terroristattacks can also be enormouslydevastating in terms of cognitivefunctioning. There is a wide literatureand polling evidence (Kramer, Brown,Spielman, Giosan, & Rothrock, 2004)on fear of future terrorism among 'thepublic, although some studiesconducted right after 9/11 have shownsome declining of pathology and fearof terrorism after it rose immediatelyfollowing the attacks (Galea et aI.,2003; Schuster et aI., 2003). Thesefears went up largely after majorterrorist. attacks, such as followingthose in Bali in 2002, Madrid in 2004,and London in 2005 (Polling Report,2005). A research indicated thatterrorism catastrophizing has provedto be a significant predictor ofbehavioral change and of symptoms ofanxiety, depression, physiologicalstress and mortality salience amongsurvivors of terror attacks (Sinclair &LoCicero, 2007).

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan haveproduced an immense and ongoingkind of insecurity among the public asthis dread hampered their routine lifeas well as financial setup. It wasrevealed in a Gallup survey conductedby the end of 2009 that nearly 80percent of citizens in Pakistan feelinsecurity and show hesitation invisiting crowded places. An importantstudy conducted by Pakistan Institutefor Peace Studies (PIPS) on theimpact of terrorism on the activities ofthe people has shown that panic orapprehension due to terrorism is acausal factor of dysfunctionalbehavior of people in which I

I;I

NAY AB AND KAMAL TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING

and (b) his life experiences relatedthc topic of death.

Terror Management Theoryimpressive in explaining phenomlof understanding how people' raunder the danger of terror,i(Pyszezynski. Solomon, & Greenbe2003). It proposes that followmajor terrorist attacks such as 91death salience and the realization tdeath is unavoidable becomes genein public. As attacks keepoccun'ing across the world and ascommon masses come to focus 011

on these threats, mortality salieland fear of death increases.

An important research finding Ishown that adolescents investigaafter the September II, 200 I termattacks have shown higher levelfear of death from simple natucauses like a tornado, or an earthqmas compared to the time when thladolescents were assessed yebefore these attacks. Adolescenincreasing perception of vulnerabilto death has increased beyond I

terrorist attacks, and is widespreaddistinct risks which are unrelalcnough to include tcrrorism (Felsl& Millstein, 2002). LiteraUregarding death anxiety and geneshows that females show greascores on death anxiety scales thmales. According to Hui, Chan aChan (1989), it has been found tlwomen show more death fear aanxiety than men which maycxplained by their sex r(socialization.

Pakistan ranked highest amothe countries badly hit by a surfeitcrises in 2009. Loss of human lividecline in economy, damage to tI

or families affected by suicide attackor any other sort of terrorist activitiesneed immediate treatment becausetheir panic afterwards results inserious psychological diseases. Evcnthe doctors and paramedical staffserving in the different hospitalscannot flee from psychological impactof such terror incidents("Psychological Diseases", 2010).

Death Anxiety is considered to bea universal phenomenon and has beendefined in a multiple conditions andscenarios. Biseoff (as cited in Ismail& Aqi!, 1995) has argued that dying ismerely not a proccss of separationfrom life rather it involves a complica-ted diversity of its contexts andsituations. Moody (1975) considereddeath as the nonexistence of particularmedically detectable symptoms and asa body state depicted by loss of majorfunctions.

Anxiety and fear, both tcrms aremost commonly used to defineorientation towards death throughoutthe life time. Various studiesconducted on death anxicty havetypically hypothesized that theconcept of death gene raily leads toanxiety. According to Neimeyer(1994) death anxiety relates toperception of threats/danger [0 life indaily routine rather than in acutesituations, He argued that deathanxiety has various components whichinclude anticipating onesclf as dead,fear of the process of dying andapprehension about dcath of relatives.According to Loneue" Fleming andMercer (1979), Templer's two-factortheory of death anxiety encompassestwo general factors in degree of deathanxiety: (a) mental health of a pcrson

lowered resistance is' followed bycounter shock, during which theindividual's defense mechanisms bec-ome aroused; (ii) resistance, is theutmost adjustment and might be asuccessful return to normal balancestate for individual's body. If, howe-ver, the stressor is ongoing and thedefense mechanism does not workmore, an individual will move on to athird stage; (iii) exhaustion, in whichadjustable mechanisms disintegrate.Selye (1946) devised a model inwhich he divided stress into eustressand distress. When stress increasesefficiency (physical or mental, such asthrough strength training or challeng-ing work) it may be considered aseustress and when persistent stressthat is not resolved through copingmechanisms or adaptation, it is calleddistress, which basically lead toanxiety or withdrawal behavior.

Studies conducted to assessterrorism's psychological impact haveshown that terrorist attacks havecreated ongoing and long termstressful conditions and have shockingconsequences in the form of varioussymptoms in survivors of terroristattacks such as distress, posttraumaticstress disorder, anxiety attacks etc,(Franklin, 2002). Differences III

stressful experiences of terrorismregarding gender have also been notedfor their personal experiences of stressat the moment of terrorist attack,which indicated that girls felt higherstress than boys (Pfefferbaum et al.1999).

As far as stressful conditions dueto terrorist attacks in Pakistan areconcerned, people are under distress.Senior psychiatrists and psychologistsin the country have argued that people

134

commonly spread mentalcomplications are stress, anxicty,depression and fear of death (PakistanSecurity Report, 2009). Variouspsychiatrists in Karachi have showntheir major worry ovcr the growingnumber of paticnts suffering frommental and psychological diseasesafter a wave of ten'orist attacks in thecity at the holy procession of Ashoraon lOth Moharram which claimed tdhave taken Ihe lives of almost 43people while 100 were injured.Medical experts have argued thatpatients suffering from psychologicaltraumas need urgent treatment;besides, the psychological impactsalso prevail in their families. Anothermanifestation of effects of terrorism islack of tolerance, patience, andincrease in cognitive stress in thecountry which can further increasefear of instability and anxiety("Psychological Diseases", 20 I0).

The word 'stress' comes from theLatin word stringere, which means 'todraw tight'. It encompasses a widerange of forms, i.e., from simplefrustrations to major mental complica-tions that can causc a realdeterioration in health, The word mayrefer to a stimulus, a reaction to astimulus, or the physical consequencesof that response, According to Lazarusand Folkman (1984), stressors, orstressful life situations, as thoseconditions that might create danger forindividual's physical integrity(physical stressors) or psychologicalwell-being (psychological stressors),

General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS; Selye, 1946) model describedthree stages which an individual facesin stressful situations: (i) alarmreaction, in which primalY phase of

,

l

TERRORISM CATASTROPHlZING 135

,d by1 thebec-

is thebe aalanceIwe-ld theworkIn to awhich'grate.lei In.lstress:reasesuch asIcng-red asstress

:opingcalledad to

assess:t have

haveterm

oekingrarious~rroristumaticos etc.~s inTonsmI notedF stressattack,higheret al.

s duein areistress.,logistspeople

"

or families affected by suicide attackor any other sort of terrorist activitiesneed immediate treatment becausetheir panic afterwards results Inserious psychological diseases. Eventhe doctors and paramedical staffserving in the different hospitalscannot flee from psychological impactof such terror incidents("Psychological Diseases", 2010).

Death Anxiety is considered to bea universal phenomenon and has beendefined in a multiple conditions andscenarios. Riscoff (as cited in Ismail& Aqil, 1995) has argued that dying ismerely not a process of separationfrom life rather it involves a complica-ted diversity of its contexts andsituations. Moody (1975) considereddeath as the nonexistence of particularmedically detectable symptoms and asa body state depicted by loss of majorfunctions.

Anxiety and fear, both tcrms aremost commonly used to defineorientation towards death throughoutthe life time. Various studiesconducted on death anxiety havetypically hypothesized that theconcept of death generally leads toanxiety. According to Neimeyer(1994) death anxiety relates toperception of threats/danger to life indaily routine rather than III acutesituations. He argued that deathanxiety has various components whichinclude anticipating oneself as dead,fear of the process of dying andapprehension about death of relatives.According to LonettG, Fleming andMercer (1979), Templer's two-factortheory of death anxiety encompassestwo general factors in degree of deathanxiety: (a) mental health of a person

and (b) his life experiences related tothe topic of death.

Terror Management Theory IS

impressive in explaining phenomenaof understanding how people reactunder the danger of terrorism(Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg,2003). It proposes that followingmajor terrorist attacks such as 9/11,death salience and the realization thatdeath is unavoidable becomes generalIn public. As attacks keep onoccurring across the world and as thecommon masses come to focus moreon these threats, mortality salienceand fear of death increases.

An important research finding hasshown that adolescents investigatedafter the September II, 200 I terroristattacks have shown higher level offear of death from simple naturalcauses like a tornado, or an earthquakeas compared to the time when thoseadolescents were assessed yearsbefore these attacks. Adolescents'increasing perception of vulnerabilityto death has increased beyond theterrorist attacks, and is widespread todistinct risks which are unrelatedenough to include terrorism (Felsher& Millstein, 2002). Literatureregarding death anxiety and gendershows that females show greaterscores on death anxiety scales thanmales. According to Hui, Chan andChan (1989), it has been found thatwomen show more death fear andanxiety than men which may beexplained by their sex rolesocialization.

Pakistan ranked highest amongthe countries badly hit by a surfeit ofcrises in 2009. Loss of human lives,decline in economy, damage to the

1

II

i

'[

Ii

136 NAY AB AND KAMALTERRo~rSM CATASTROPHIZING I:

socio-cultural fabric in large swaths ofthe country, instability in politics andlack of trust among the stakeholdersof the war on terror were the mainissues of the year for Pakistan. 87attacks in 2009 present an increase interrorist attacks by 32 percent than theprevious year. These attacks havetaken the lives of 1,299 persons while3,633 were injured. Whereas suicideattacks in 2008 attempted to targetsecurity forces and law enforcementagencies, in 2009 the terroristsincreasingly chose to target generalpublic (Pakistan Security Report,2009).

Children and youngsters haveunluckily also not been safe fromexposure to terrorism and itspathOlogical after effects. The suicidebombings targeting the businesscenter of Moon Market which is oneof the most crowded markets ofLahore, attacks in Meena Bazaarwhich is the busiest area of Peshawar,twin bomb blasts that targetedstudents of International IslamicUniversity Islamabad on 20th Octoberand a brutal attack on Parade LaneMosque in R'lwalpindi, are someimportant cases to consider (Iqbal,2010). Even the hospitals wherepatients are already sufferings fromdiseases have not been safe fromdeadly terrorist attacks. A suicideattack in the provincial hospital inQuetta claimed to have taken the livesof one journalist, two DSPs andtwenty seven common men ("Twinsuicide blasts", 2010).

The focus of the CUlTentstudy istherefore to investigate the impact ofterrorism on university students.

/ Whereas terrorism has created acatastrophic situation in the country,

its impact is especially deep on theyouth after the suicide attacks onstudents of International IslamicUniversity, Islamabad. Thus, anattempt was made to collect the datafrom students of different universitiesin different cities, during days whenthese terrorist attacks were morecommon, in order to analyze the truepicture of their mental health.

The main objectives of the studywere to examine relationship betweenterrorism catastrophizing, perceivedstress and death anxiety amongstudents and to explore gender anduniversity-wise differences amongstudents on main variables. It washypothesized that:

1. Terrorism catastrophizing, percei-ved stress and death anxiety arepositively correlated.

2. Female students will have higherlevel of terrorism catastrophizing,perceived stress and death anxietyas compared to male students.

3. Terrorism catastrophizing andperceived stress are associatedwith death anxiety amonguniversity students.

Method

Participants

Sample of the study included 430university students (men, n = 183,women, n = 247) from universities ofdifferent cities, i.e., InternationalIslamic University, Islamabad (datahad been collected after one week ofterrorist attack there), Quaid-i-AzamUniversity, Islamabad, PeshawarUniversity (data collection was underprocess when suicide attack in MeenaBazar took place), Bahauddin

Zakariya University~ Mullan (datacollection was under process whenterrorist attack in Cantt Area tookplace) and Islamia UniversityBahawalpur, through purposivesampling technique. These studentsbelonged to different age level, i.e.,16-40 years (M = 22 years), theireducational level was fromGraduation to PhD, and they wereeither day scholars (n = 239) or livingin university dormitories (n = 191).

Measures

1. Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale(TCS; Sinclair & LoCicero, 2007).

Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale(Sinclair & LoCicero, 2007) consists?f three subscales of catastrophizing,I.e., Magnification, Rumination, &Helplessness, with a total of 13 items.Item no. 01, 03, OS, 09 and 12comprise the Rumination subscale'item no 06, 08 and 10 comprise th~Magnification subscale, and item no02, 04, 07, II and 13 comprise theHelplessness subscale. TCS is a fivepoint Likert scale, ranging fromStrongly Agree to Strongly Disagreewith a range of 13 to 65 and a cut-offscore of 33. The overall alphacoefficient reliability of TCS is 0.85and test-retest reliability is 0.89.

2. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS;Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein,1983).

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Co-hen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983)consists of 14 items. The responsecategories range from Never to VeryOften (Never = 0, Almost Neve:' = 1,

Sometimes = 2, Fairly Often = 3 a~Very Oftcn = 4) where minimUiscore is 0 and maximum is 56. Itelno. 04, OS,06, 07, 09, 10 and 13 ha\reverse scoring. PSS was found to tinternally consistent with a = 0.85 allproved to be a better predictor (health related and stressful outcomes.

3. Death Anxiety Scale (DAS; Gorejl& Pervez, 2000).

The Death Anxiety Scale develo-ped by Goreja and Pervez (200(consists of 20 items relating to the fe:of personal death. The items includein the scale are categorized into sidimensions of death anxiety, i.econcern over suffering and lingeri~death, subjective proximity to deatldisturbing death thoughts, impact athe survivors, fear of punishment anfear of not being. Responses weIobtained on a five point rating scaltCategories ranged from Always INever (Always = (5) 100'!Frequently = (4) 75%, Sometimes(3) 50%, Rarely = (2) 25% and Nev(= (I) 0%) with a cut off score of 5(The scale was found internallconsistent with a = 0.89.

Procedure

Students were approached in theiuniversity timings. They were brieferegarding the nature of the researcbeing carried out, and about theiconsent and 'cooperation which wavery important. A booklet containininformed consent and demographi:sheet with all the questionnaires wagiven to them. They were requested tlfill the questionnaires fairly and wenassured that the collected informaliOl

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING 137

, on the,eks OQ

icIUS, anthe dataversitfesIS whene morethe true

le studybetweenerceived

amongder and

amongIt was

percei-:iety are

e higher'phizing,, anxietynts.19 and:sociated

among

.ded 430= 183,

rsities of~nationalld (dataweek of.-i-Azam'eshawaras under1MeenaLhauddin

/

Zakariya University, Mullan (datacollection was under process whenterrorist attack in Cant! Area tookplace) and Islamia UniversityBahawalpur, through purposivesampling technique. These studentsbelonged to different age level, i.e.,16-40 years (M = 22 years), theireducational level was fromGraduation to PhD, and they wereeither day scholars (n = 239)' or livingin u~iversity dormitories (n = 191).

Measures

1. Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale(TCS; Sinclair & LoCicero, 2007).

Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale(Sinclair & LoCicero, 2007) consistsof three subsealcs of eatastrophizing,i.e., Magnification, Rumination, &Helplessness, with a total of 13 items.Item no. 01, 03, OS, 09 and 12comprise the Rumination subscale;item no 06, 08 and 10 comprise theMagnification subscale, and item no02, 04, 07, 11 and 13 comprise theHelplessness subscale. TCS is a fivepoint Likert seale, ranging fromStrongly Agree to Strongly Disagreewith a range of 13 to 65 and a cut-offscore of 33. The overall alphacoefficient reliability of TCS is 0.85and test-retest reliability is 0.89 .

2. Perceived Stress Seale (PSS;Cohen, Kamarek, & Mermelstein,1983).

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Co-hen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983)

consists of 14 items. The responsecategories range from Never to VeryOften (Never = 0, Almost Neve:' = 1,

Sometimes = '2, Fairly Often = 3 andVery Often = 4) where minimumscore is 0 and maximum is 56. Itemno. 04, OS, 06, 07, 09, 10 and 13 havereverse scoring. PSS was found to beinternally consistent with a = 0.85 andproved to be a better predictor ofhealth related and stressful outcomes.

3. Death Anxiety Scale (DAS; Goreja& Pervez, 2000).

The Death Anxiety Scale develo-ped by Goreja and Pervez (2000)consists of 20 items relating to the fearof personal death. The items includedin the scale are categorized into sixdimensions of death anxiety, i.e.,concern over suffering and lingeringdeath, subjective proximity to death,disturbing death thoughts, impact onthe survi vors, fear of punishment andfear of not being. Responses wereobtained on a five point rating seale.Categories ranged from Always toNever (Always = (5) 100%,Frequently = (4) 75%, Sometimes =(3) 50%, Rarely = (2) 25% and Never= (I) 0%) with a cut off score of 50.The scale was found internallyconsistent with a = 0.89.

Procedure

Students were approached in theiruniversity timings. They were briefedregarding the nature of the researchbeing carried out, and about theirconsent and cooperation which wasvery important. A booklet containinginformed consent and demographicsheet with all the questionnaires wasgiven to them. They were requested tofill the questionnaires fairly and wereassured that the collected information

138 NAYAB AND KAMAL TERRORISM CATASTROPffiZ1NG

Table1Relationship among Terrorism Catastrophizing (Subscales), Perceived Stress,and Death Anxiety in University Students (N=430)

Scales 2 3 4 5 6

I. Terrorism Catastrophizing .74** .71** .82** 040** Al **Scale

Rumination Subscale .34** 040** .34** .29**Magnification Subscale .36** .29** .34**Helplessness Subscale .29** .31**

2. Perceived Stress Scale .29*'3. Death Anxiety Scale**p < ,01.

Table 3t-test Showing Gender Differences in TCS Subscales, PSS and DAS (N=430)

Table 2One Way ANO VAfor students of 5 Universities on TCS, PSS and DAS (N=43

.375

.373,829.3941.383.13

1.29

.384.

2.95*

F

Women(n=247)M SD

44.74 7.3316.51 3.0110.66 2.9617.57 3.7329.02 5.6866.24 15043

MS

62.9648.6810.9228.40681.24230.36

Men(n = 183)M SD

44.48 6.5116.61 2.4610.44 2.2617.43 3.5428.30 4.7561.60 14.78

SS251.86420692.60143.67912072.5632724.97897906.799

Source ofVariation

Between GroupsWithin GroupsBetween GroupsWithin GroupsBetween GroupsWithin Groups

df = 4,425. *P < .OJ.Note: TCS= Terrori.o;mCata.o::trophizing Scale; Rum= Rumination ..,uhscale; Mag= Magnifisubscale; Help= Helplessness subscale; PSS= Perceived Stress Scale; DAS= Death Anxiety:

PSS

DAS

Scales

TCS

B SE j3 t fStep 1TCS .91 ] .096 .415 9.45 .O(

Step 2TCS ,783 ,104 .357 7.51 .O(PSS .419 .137 .146 3.06 .O(

R2= .173 for Step 1; LI R' =.018 for Step 2, F (2,427) = 50.212

Table 4Predictors of Death Anxiety from Terrorism Catastrophizing and PerceStress among University Students (N=430)

Scalesl. TCS Total.

Rumination SubscaleMagnification SubscaleHelplessness Subscale

2 Perceived Stress Scale3 Death Anxiety Scaledf = 428

both male and female students haveequally high level of terrorism cat-astrophizing and perceived stress (ascompared to the mean cut off score ofTCS and PSS) but female studentswere found to be more anxious aboutdeath as compared to male students.University wise results regardingstudents' terrorism catastrophizing,perceived stress and death anxiety(Table 2) demonstrated that studentsof all universities feel equally high le-vel of terrorism catastrophizing andperceived stress but PeshawarUniversity students were found to behigher in death anxiety than rest ofuniversity students.

Stepwise multiple regression ana-lysis (Table 4) showed that bothterrorism eatastrophizing and percei-ved stress signifieantly predict deathanxiety in university students;

will be kept confidential and to beused for research purposes only.

Results

Data were analyzed using PearsonCorrelation, independent sample t-testand step wise multiple regressionanalysis. Analysis regarding eorrelate-ion of variables showed a highlysignificant positive eorrelation (p <.01, Table I) between the threevariables which revealed that if aperson is high in catastrophizingterrorism (rumination, magnificationand helplessness), he /she will alsoperceive high stress and have higherlevel of death anxiety.

Gender differences in studentsregarding terrorism eatastrophizing(rumination, magnification andhelplessness), perceived stress anddeath anxiety (Table 3) showed that

l

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING 139

Table 3t-test Showing Gender Differences in TCS Subscales, PSS and DAS (N=430)

Table 2One Way ANOVAfor students of 5 Universities on TCS, PSS and DAS (N=430)

.384

1.29

2.95*

FMS

62.9648.6810.9228.40681.24230.36

SS251.86420692.60143.679]2072.56327,24.97897906.799

Source ofVariation

Between GroupsWithin GroupsBetween GroupsWithin GroupsBetween GroupsWithin Groups

df = 4,425. *P < .01.Note: TCS= Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale; Rum= Rumination subscale; Mag= Magnificationsuhscale; Help= Helplessness subscale; PSS= Perceived Slress Scale; DAS= Dealh Anxiety Scale

Scales

PSS

DAS

Tes

Men Women(n = 183) (n=247)

Scales M SD M SD t P1. TeS Total 44.48 6.51 44.74 7.33 .375 ns.

Rumination Subseale 16.61 2.46 16.51 3.01 .373 ns.Magnification Subseale 10.44 2.26 10.66 2.96 .829 ns.Helplessness Subseale 17.43 3.54 17.57 3.73 .394 ns.

2 Perceived Stress Seale 28.30 4.75 29.02 5.68 1.38 ns.3 Death Anxiety Seale 61.60 14.78 66.24 15.43 3.13 .002df =428

ana-both

~rcei-jeathlents;

havet-;s (as)re ofdentsabout:nts.rdingizing,,xietydents~hle-: andlawarto best of

fress,

6

H**

19*'34**II**19**

Table 4Predictors of Death Anxiety from Terrorism Catastrophizing and PerceivedStress among University Students (N=430)

B SE jJ PStep 1Tes .911 .096 .415 9.45 .000

Step 2TeS .783 .104 .357 7.51 .000PSS .419 .137 .146 3.06 .002

R'= .173 for Step I; d R' =.018 for Step 2, F (2,427) = 50.212

140 NAYAB AND KAMAL TERRORisM CATASTROPHIZING

In step I terrorism catastrophizingalone predicted 17% of death anxiety(R' =.173) which increases toapprox19% in step 2 (AR' =.018)when perceived stress is added as asecond variable. However, role ofI1erceived stress in predicting deathanxiety in step 2 is very low.

Discussion

The present study examineduniversity students' level of terrorismcatastrophizing, perceived stress anddeath anxiety. Moreover, it exploredgender differences in studentsregarding these variables. Analysisregarding relationship of terrorismcatastrophizing, perceived stress anddeath anxiety demonstrated highly

Analysis regarding gender differenceson variables revealed that both maleand female students have equallyhigher level of terrorismcatastrophizing and perceived stressbut female students were found to bemore anxious towards death ascompared to their male counterparts,thus partially supporting ourhypothesis regarding genderdifferences. This finding is alsosupported by most of the recent andpast studies on sex differences andgender which show that women havehigher scores on death anxiety scalesthan men.

Next, university-wise differences wereexplored among the students on thethree variables which showed nonsignificant differences among studentsof all univcrsities, revealing that theyfelt equally high level of terrorismcatastrophizing and perceived stress;

significant positive relationship (p <.0 I) between the variables whichstrongly supports the hypothesis of thestudy. This finding is supported by astudy conducted by Pakistan Institutefor Peace Studies (PIPS) on theimpact of terrorism on the commonperson which revealed that fear ofterrorism is a causal factor inpathological tendencies in the societywhere stress, anxiety, depression andfear of death are common (PakistanSecurity Report, 2009). The currentfinding is also supported by a studyconducted in the New Yorkmetropolitan area following theSeptember II attacks, that foundpsychological distress and fear ofdeath to be largely prevalent (Galea etaI., 2002; Schuster et aI., 200!.

but as far as analysis of death anxietyis concerned, study found thatstudents of Peshawar university werefound to be different about deathanxiety from rest of universitystudents. This may be explained bythe fact that Peshawar has been acontinuous stagc for terroristactivities. According to officialfigures, as many as 1,059 personswere killed while over 2,700 woundedin terrorist incidents which included37 suicide attacks in the NWFP alonefrom the beginning of 2008 till 25March, 2009. Thus, youth ofPeshawar city have remained underthe continuous proximal contact ofsuch terrorist activities. This finding isalso supported by a study in whichincreased rates of psychopathologyhad been found in youth who comeinto close contact with terrorism.Increased rates of psychopathologyhave been found following the

September II, 200 I, and in regions ofcontinued political conflict, e.g.,Guatemala, Israel, and NorthernIreland, during as well as followingattacks (Brown & Goodman, 2005).

Analysis regarding the lasthypothesis revealed through stepwisemultiple regression that terrorismcatastrophizing and perceived stressproved to be the significant predictorsof death anxiety among universitystudents, thus supporting ourhypothesis, though terrorismcatastrophizing contributed more ascompared to perceived stress. Thisfinding may well. bc explained by thetragic and fearful scenario of thecountry due to terrorism which has ledthe already stressful people towardsmore fear and anxiety of death.Anxiety about, death is the obviouscase if one sees the brutal deaths ofpeople on daily basis due to terroristattacks whether live or throughelectronic or print media. This findingis also supported by a study of Sinclairand LoCicero (2007), in which theydiscovered that terrorismcatastrophizing proved to be asignificant predictor of behavioralchange and of symptoms of anxiety,depression, physiological stress andmortality salience.

Pathological impact of terrorismon mental health of youth can easilybe assessed by the findings of presentstudy. Catastrophe of terrorism notonly has badly affected the mentalhealth of youth but also the fear ofanticipated terrorism has deterioratedtheir daily functioning. The indicators

of death anxiety in them can be nfatal and pathological if tlconditions persist. Furthermcomparison regarding gender revethat not only girls but boys alsofearful of terrorism. This study wi!beneficial for Clinical psychologsocial workers etc. in provilmental assistance to youth.findings of this study can be usc'comprehensive preventive progrof building resilience in youth.

Limitations and Suggestions

Following are some limitations ofstudy:I. Although the sample (univel

students) is. quite literatecomprehend English langLeasily but even thenquestionnaires should have ttranslated in Urdu languagebetter understanding ofstudents and to avoid biases,

2, Probability sampling technicould not be done for the pre:study because of short time pel(as mentioned earlier that (collection started right afterincident of terrorist atlacksInternational Islamic UnivenIslamabad on 20th October, 20C

Here are some suggestions for 1'U1

research:I. Common men, women, child

and especially police persofcan also be taken as a samplefuture study because these peehave been the direct victimsterrorist attacks.

2. Some other variables regardimpact of terrorism maystudied for the future researchinstance, intolerance, an~

TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING

,(p<which'of theby astilUten themmonar ofr InocietynandkistanurrentI studyI York1/ theIfound~ar ofnlea et2001.

nxiety: that: were,deathrersityed by~en arroristfficialtrsonsnnded,Iudedaloneill 25I ofunderct ofing iswhichplogy~omeI'ism,~Iogythe

September II, 200 I, and in regions ofcontinued political conflict, e,g.,Guatemala, Israel, and NorthernIreland, during as well as followingattacks (Brown & Goodman, 2005),

Analysis regarding the lasthypothesis revealcd through stepwisemultiple regression that terrorismcatastrophizing and perceiv\,d stressproved to be the significant predictorsof dcath anxiety among universitystudents, thus supporting ourhypothesis, though tcrrorismcatastrophizing contributed more ascompared to perceived stress. Thisfinding may well be explained by thetragic and fearful scenario of thecountry due to terrorism which has ledthe alrcady stressful people towardsmore fear and anxiety of death,Anxiety about death is the obviouscase if one sees the brutal deaths ofpeople on daily basis due to terroristattacks whether live or throughelectronic or print media. This findingis also supported by a study of Sinclairand LoCicero (2007), in which theydiscovered that terrorismcatastrophizing proved to be asignificant predictor of behavioralchange and of symptoms of anxiety,depression, physiological stress andmortality salience,

Conclusion

Pathological impact of terrorismon mental health of youth can easilybe assessed by the findings of presentstudy, Catastrophe of terrorism notonly has badly affected the mentalhealth of youth but also the fear ofanticipated terrorism has deterioratedtheir daily functioning, The indicators

141

of death anxiety in them can be morefatal and pathological if theseconditions persist. Furthermore,comparison regarding gender revealedthat not only girls but boys also arefearful of terrorism. This srudy will bebeneficial for clinical psychologists,social workers etc. in providingmental assistance to youth, Thefindings of this study can be used incomprehensive preventive programsof building resilience in youth,

Limitations and Suggestions

Following arc some limitations of thestudy:I, Although the sample (university

students) is quite literate tocomprehend English languageeasi Iy but even then thequestionnaires should have beentranslated m Urdu language forbetter understanding of thestudents and to avoid biases.

2, Probability sampling techniquecould not be done for the presentstudy because of short timc period(as mentioned earlier that datacollection started right after theincident of terrorist attacks mInternational Islamic University,Islamabad on 20lh October, 2009),

Here are some suggestions for futureresearch:I. Common men, women, children,

and especially police personnelcan also be taken as a sample forfuture study because these peoplehave been the direct victims ofterrorist attacks,

2, Some other variables regardingimpact of terrorism may bestudied for the future research forinstance, intolerance, anger,

Ii;I

.ilI',

"

!

IiI

I;',iII

I

142 NAYAB ANDKAMAL TERRORISM CATASTROPHIZING

insecurity, uncertainty, classperformancc of students,posttraumatic stress disorder, etc.

3. Future work can be doneregarding terrorism and copingstrategies adopted by the survivorsof terrorist attacks

Implications of the study

This research will be beneficialfor the society especially for the

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144 NAYAB AND KAMAL Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology2010, Vol. 8, No.2, 145 - (53

Keywords: anxiety, depression, survivors, suicide bombing

Yasmin Farooqi and Maria HabibDepartment of Applicd Psychology

University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ANXIETY,DEPRESSION AND STRESS AMONGSURVIVORS OF SUICIDE BOMBING

and children which' created massifeelings of helplessness, insecurilpanic, stress, sadness, anger, fear alhorror among the survivors and thedear ones.

According to Moghaddam 31

Marsella (2004), terrorism is the fODof violence that has pressurizeendangered and damaged peoplgovernments, nations or perha]civilizations over the past severyears. Terrorism has killed, injunand permanently brutalized thousanlof innocent people. Terrorist violenlis always planned and is intended'produce fear in someone other th,the victims' as well.

abdominal discomfort, dlmouth, rapid heartbeat or palpitationinability to concentrate, shortness e

The present research studied gender differences for anxiety, depression andstress among survivors of suicide bombings in Lahore, Pakistan. The sampleconsisted of 120 adult survivors of suicide bombings (79 men and 41 women)in the vicinity of buildings occupied by Federal Investigfttion Agency (FIA),General Post Office and Lahore High Court which were rocked by a series ofsuicide bombing. Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond,1995) was administcred to all the research participant.;;, Thc results indicatedsignificant gender differences in depression, anxiety and stress reported by thesurvivors of suicide bombings. The findings further suggested that fcmalesurvivors scored higher on depression, anxiety and stress than their malecounterparts. Furlhennore, positive significant relationship was found betweenstress and depression, stress and anxiety. depression and anxiety. The findingsof this research have implications for promoting our knowledge of genderrelated differences in anxiety, depression and stress among survivors of suicidebombings ,so' that effective counseling and psychotherapeutic interventionscould be introduced for the survivors of traumatic events.

Unfortunately, Pakistan has beenthe target for a series of suicidebombing attacks since 9/11. Importantbuildings and places in Lahore-theprovincial capital city of Pakistan-have especially been targeted. Thebuildings occupied by FcderalInvestigation Agency, General PostOffice and Lahore High Court weretargeted by the suicide bombers in2008 resulting in death anddestruction of innocent men, women

Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Ms.Maria Habib, Department of AppliedPsychology, University of the Punjab, Lahorc-54000, Pakistan.

Correspondence concerning this articleshould be addressed to Ms. Maria Habib, MScstudent, Department of Applied Psychology,University of the Punjab, Lahore, PakistanEmail: maria.habib25@yahoo.com

Received February 2010Revision received December 2010

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