Master's Theses

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

The World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001, had a drastic impact on American culture across many different mediums. Among those impacted, first responders experienced intense responsibilities beyond the bounds of typical expectation and training, putting them particularly at risk for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD in first responders is often examined on a wide scale, where all types of responder roles are compared to the general population or within their individual groups. This study examined the association between occupation of responders at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and PTSD prevalence and symptom expression. Patterns of symptoms were also explored based on symptom type among the different occupations. PCL-5 scores and demographic information of 671 responders were collected from the Word Trade Center Health Program directory and one of its affiliated research projects, the Personality-Informed Care Model for 9/11-related Comorbid Conditions study. This data was analyzed by a series of one-way ANOVA to compare PCL scores among the three groups and a 3X4 ANOVA to examine overall patterns of symptom expression according to responder role. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in the prevalence of PTSD and severity of symptom expression based on role, and that non-traditional responders would display the highest levels of PTSD symptoms among the participants, with firefighters displaying the highest levels among the traditional emergency responder population. However, while significant differences were found between responder roles in both total PCL score and its associated symptom categories, firefighters displayed consistently lower PCL scores than the other groups. These findings imply that the direction of both research and treatment development should strongly consider responder role when addressing PTSD and its associated symptoms.

Keywords

Clinical Psychology, New York, Trauma, Daily Stress, First Responders

Advisor

Dr. Stephanie Weigel

Date of Award

Fall 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

© The Author

Comments

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