Post-Disaster Stress Following the Oklahoma City Bombing

Abstract

This article describes a study of 472 community members to determine the nature and course of the post-disaster response to the April 19, 1995, bombing in Oklahoma City. It was hypothesized that an individual's post-disaster reaction would resemble a linear function of the degree of exposure experienced, and that this dose-response relationship could be used to differentiate the expression of post-traumatic stress disorder and victimization symptomatology within the three study groups. The respondents were divided into three groups based on their level of exposure and proximity to the event. The findings partially support the stated hypotheses. As expected, the Oklahoma City groups reported higher levels of post-disaster disturbance than the comparison sample, although only PTSD and victimization could be used to differentiate among the three groups.