A comparative analysis of the social skills of New York City preschool children following September 11, 2001.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study sought to determine if preschool children who were personally exposed to the September 11, 2001 attack on New York City evidenced social skill deficits and behavior problems relative to a group of non-trauma-exposed children. Measures included the Preschool Trauma Questionnaire (PTQ), which identified exposure to the September 11, 2001 attack and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), which assessed social skills and behavior problems. Fifty-eight children between the ages of 2.72 and 4.43 years participated in the study. The trauma-exposed group (n = 32) directly experienced the events of September 11 whereas the non-trauma-exposed group (n = 26) was not directly exposed. Data analyses determined that the mean SSRS social skills score of the trauma-exposed group was significantly higher than the mean of the non-trauma exposed group. Additional analyses failed to identify significant differences between the trauma-exposed and non-trauma-exposed groups on all of the SSRS subscales.