The Oklahoma City bombing: An examination of the relationship between exposure to bomb-related television and posttraumatic stress symptoms following a disaster

Despite burgeoning research examining posttraumatic stress symptoms in child and adolescent trauma victims, few studies have systematically investigated the relationship between exposure to trauma-related television and psychological sequelae following a community disaster. The few reports that have examined this relationship have suggested a strong correlation between exposure to trauma-related television and posttraumatic stress reactions; however these findings are often presented anecdotally or are have limited methodology. This study explored the relationship between exposure to bomb-related television and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in a sample of 2,737 Oklahoma City students seven-weeks following the Oklahoma City bombing. As hypothesized, bomb-related television viewing was significantly related to severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms and participants who knew someone injured or killed in the bombing were less likely to view bomb-related television. Further, severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms was significantly related to subjective reactivity following viewing the bomb-related television. These findings suggest a need for more empirical attention to the relationship between exposure to trauma-related televised media and post-trauma sequelae as well as an examination of the possible implications for trauma recovery.