Mental and Emotional Health of Children Exposed to News Media of Threats and Acts of Terrorism: The Cumulative and Pervasive Effects

Cumulative and Pervasive Effects. Viewing extreme violence and terrorism, either directly by witnessing acts or indirectly by watching them in the media, affects children's mental and emotional health (1), and some children are at a higher risk for negative effects than others. Indirect exposure to terrorism acts and threats through the media affects the mental health of children, in both short-and long-term ways that differ completely from the effects in adults. Children's vulnerability, immaturity, and developmental state change their perspective, and the tools used to confront these issues do not affect each child equally. Additionally, emotional problems might not surface immediately; instead, they can remain latent until they surface eventually. How and when this occurs depends mostly on additive effects generated by the environment in which the child develops and additional disparities in which the child confronts. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as " the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives " (2). Direct or indirect exposure to terrorism violence provokes a state of terror in the general public through the use of calculated acts of violence, which includes murder, mutilation, and explosions that affect innocent people, often including children. Even though the events might no longer be in the news, the psychological scars and trauma caused by viewing the horrifying images and by the memories are pervasive and do not heal easily (3). The natural tendency of adults to try to forget about the problems and move on with their lives often results in underestimating the importance and effect of the exposure on the emotional and psychosocial problems of children. The negative effect of exposure to violence in the media on children has been extensively discussed for years, with many controversial and conflicting results and conclusions. While some have found highly negative effects (4–6), others have denied any possible effects from media exposure (7, 8). Nevertheless, the existing evidence about the effects of media exposure to terrorism and violence acts among children should not be underestimated or dismissed. The point of discussion here is to consider the need to support strategies that reduce the effects of unsupervised viewing of terrorism acts and threats presented by the media. While stopping the media presentation of this violence might not be possible, there is much …