Long-term effects of trauma in adolescence: Comparison between survivors of a terrorist attack and control counterparts

Abstract

This study examined the long-term impact of a terrorist attack which involved the seizure of over a hundred hostages, most of them adolescents. The event took place in 1974, in the small town of Ma'alot close to the northern border of Israel and Lebanon. In order to ensure that the effects found among the survivors were due specifically to the traumatic experience, a control group was also included. The study was based on in-depth interviews and supplementary questionnaires administered to the survivors and to the control group seventeen years after the event. The findings reveal that a traumatic experience at the developmental stage of adolescence leaves deep scars primarily on the emotional level. It has affected the survivors' mental health and well-being, their interpersonal, social and vocational adjustment, as well as their emotional responses in emergency situations, such as the Gulf War.