Longitudinal Changes in Posttraumatic Stress in Relation to Political Violence (Bloody Sunday)

Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the levels of psychological distress experienced among the families of those killed and those wounded on Bloody Sunday. A longitudinal design was used. A measure of psychological distress was administered to four groups of participants at four times over a period of approximately 4½ years. The Impact of Events Scale–Revised (IES-R) was administered to 69 participants who comprised four groups; those wounded during Bloody Sunday, the immediate family of victims, second-generation family members of victims, and a comparison group. Significant between-group and within-group main effects were found using a mixed analysis of variance. This indicated that there were significant differences in IES-R scores across the four groups and that the scores decreased across time. The group by time interaction was statistically significant, which indicated that the changes in IES-R scores across time differed across groups. The results attest to the persistent and far-reaching effects of traumatic events on individuals, with psychological distress still being reported more than 30 years after the event.