Acute stress responses after indirect exposure to the MH17 airplane crash - PubMed (original) (raw)

Observational Study

. 2019 Nov;110(4):790-813.

doi: 10.1111/bjop.12358. Epub 2018 Nov 18.

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Observational Study

Acute stress responses after indirect exposure to the MH17 airplane crash

Bertus F Jeronimus et al. Br J Psychol. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

People can experience disasters vicariously (indirectly) via conversation, social media, radio, and television, even when not directly involved in a disaster. This study examined whether vicarious exposure to the MH17-airplane crash in Ukraine, with 196 Dutch victims, elicited affective and somatic responses in Dutch adults about 2,600 km away, who happened to participate in an ongoing diary study. Participants (n = 141) filled out a diary three times a day for 30 days on their smartphones. Within-person changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and somatic symptoms after the crash were studied. Additionally, we tested whether between-person differences in response could be explained by age, baseline personality (NEO-FFI-3), and media exposure. The MH17 crash elicited a small within-person decrease in PA and an increase in NA and somatic symptoms. This response waned after 3 days and returned to baseline at day four. The decrease in PA was larger in more extraverted participants but smaller in those higher on neuroticism or conscientiousness. The NA response was smaller in elderly. Personality did not seem to moderate the NA and somatic response, and neither did media exposure. Dutch participants showed small acute somatic and affective responses up till 3 days to a disaster that they had not directly witnessed. Vicariously experienced disasters can thus elicit affective-visceral responses indicative of acute stress reactions. Personality and age explained some of the individual differences in this reaction.

Keywords: Big Five Personality; Collective indirect threat signal; Indirect threat exposure; Media; Positive and negative affect.

© 2018 The Authors. British Journal of Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Social tension in the Netherlands as indicated by social media.Notes. On the _y_‐axis, we see the percentage of social media messages that include words indicative of social tension (from 0% to 2%) according to Center for Big Data Statistics (2017) Social Tension Indicator (

https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/our-services/innovation/project/social-tension-indicator-based-on-social-media

). This indicator measures tensions or unrest within Dutch society based on a validated glossary containing words that are specifically related to (un)safety, rather than more general measurements of positive or negative sentiments. Chronologically, we see in this graph: [1] The

MH

17 crash on 17 July 2014; [2] Monster truck accident on 28 September 2014; [3] Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris on 7 January 2015; [4] Intruder with a gun at the Dutch national broadcasting foundation, 29 January 2015; [5] Big power outage in the Netherlands, 27 March 2015; [6] Riots in the Schilderswijk The Hague, 2 July 2015; [7] Attacks in Paris, 14 November 2015; [8] National uproar about protest against setting up an asylum centre, 16 December 2015; [9] Attacks in Brussels, 22 March 2016; [10] Shooting in Orlando, 12 June 2016; [11] Attack with truck in Nice, 15 July 2016. The results show that the

MH

17 disaster (1) was associated with a peak in messages including words indicative of social tension, although the peak was not as high as the peak of the subsequent terrorist attacks in Paris (events 3 and 7) and Brussels (event 9).

Figure 2

Figure 2

Affective and somatic responses to the

MH

17‐crash.Notes. This figure shows the best‐fitting response shape. The _x_‐axis shows the measurement moments, the morning (e.g., 17.1), afternoon (e.g., 17.2) and evening (e.g., 17.3) measurements between 16 July and 22 July.

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