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Defining a Moment in History: Parent Communication with Adolescents About September 11, 2001

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Parents play an important role in helping their children process and interpret significant sociohistorical events. However, little is known about how parents frame these experiences or the specific social, cultural, and civic messages they may communicate about the event. In this study, we examined self-reported communication of parents from six communities in the United States with their adolescents about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Parents’ (N = 972) open-ended responses about September 11th were analyzed to assess whether communication with their adolescents occurred and for thematic content. Results revealed marked variability in parents’ communication and suggest that many parents used September 11th as an opportunity to impart sociocultural, emotional, and civic messages. Identifying the diversity in parents’ responses aligns with the tenets of Terror Management Theory and provides insights into the roles of parents in translating pivotal historical moments. Collectively, these findings yield important implications for civic socialization.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant RO1 DA005629 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded to Constance Flanagan, Ph.D. The second and third authors’ time was supported by NIDA-funded National Research Service Awards (F31 DA 024916-01 and F31 DA 024543-01, respectively). The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Eastern University, 1300 Eagle Road, St. Davids, PA, 19087, USA

    Tara M. Stoppa

  2. School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA, USA

    Laura Wray-Lake

  3. Search Institute in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Amy K. Syvertsen

  4. Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Constance Flanagan

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  1. Tara M. Stoppa
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  2. Laura Wray-Lake
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  4. Constance Flanagan
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Correspondence to Tara M. Stoppa.

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Stoppa, T.M., Wray-Lake, L., Syvertsen, A.K. et al. Defining a Moment in History: Parent Communication with Adolescents About September 11, 2001. J Youth Adolescence 40, 1691–1704 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9676-0

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