This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Although it's been 25 years since the World Trade Center collapsed after terrorists flew commercial airplanes into each of the center's two towers, the trauma experienced by many first responders and recovery workers is still being felt by their children. A recent study conducted by researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons found that the children of responders who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) soon after the attacks were more likely to develop PTSD, depression, anxiety or panic symptoms themselves.
The study is published in the journal PLOS Mental Health. "The children did not see the tremendous amount of destruction that their parents saw, but their parents brought it home in a way. They didn't have to talk about it, but in their behavior, they somehow communicated their fear, anxiety, mistrust and worry," says Yael Cycowicz, associate professor of clinical neurobiology, who led the study.
Cycowicz directs the Neuro-Cognition and Emotion Lab, where she researches the impact of trauma on mental health across the lifespan, its spread across generations and its influence among family members. We know from studies of Holocaust survivors, Vietnam War veterans and others who have experienced man-made atrocities that a parent's experience of trauma can affect the psychological well-being of their children, even when the children themselves were not directly exposed to the traumatic event. And we know that such impacts may be long-term and persistent in children, extending into adulthood. 9/11 is a bit different because the event itself occurred at a particular moment, but it affected a group of people—the responders and recovery workers—for a long period.
Earlier studies reported that more than 20% of police officers and more than 30% of relief workers reported behavioral issues with their children after the attacks. However, there was no follow-up on the lives of these children, who are now adults, and relatively little is known about the intergenerational transfer of trauma to the children of first responders and recovery workers in general. We wanted to learn more about the transmission of 9/11-related trauma from parent to child to aid first responders and their families.
All the children in the study were under age 18 on 9/11 and had a parent who had been diagnosed with PTSD soon after the attacks, representing a particularly vulnerable group. Future research is needed to see if these findings generalize to children of responders who developed other health conditions. I would say that there was a clear psychological impact on the children, although they were less likely to develop PTSD themselves.
Instead, we saw much more depression and anxiety. That makes sense because it's really the mental health of the parent affecting the mental health of the children. We saw that the length of the parent's exposure and the type of exposure mattered.
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