We investigated the effect of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on marital stability. Previous research showed rates of divorce changed in opposite directions following natural disaster versus terrorist disaster. Using a prospective, longitudinal design and time series analysis, we examined rates of divorces filed by month, with respect to the World Trade Center attack in New York City (NYC). To examine whether effects radiated beyond NYC according to geographic proximity or psychological proximity, we examined four other counties of varying distance from NYC. Results showed geographic and psychological proximity effects. Following a major manmade disaster characterized by death, divorce rates decreased in NYC and Bergen County, NJ, geographically proximal locales, and in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, psychologically proximal locales.
Beach, S.R.H., & O’Leary, K.D. (1993). Dysphoria and marital discord: Are dysphoric individuals at risk for marital adjustment? Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 19, 355-368.
2.
Booth, A., Johnson, D., & Edwards, J.N. ( 1983). Measuring marital instability. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 387-394.
3.
Booth, A., Johnson, D.R., White, L.K., & Edwards, J.N. ( 1985). Predicting divorce and permanent separation. Journal of Family Issues, 6, 331-346.
4.
Bowlby, J. ( 1982). Attachment and loss: Volume 1. Attachment . New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)
5.
Bowlby, J. ( 1973). Attachment and loss: Volume 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books.
6.
Bowlby, J. ( 1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory . London: Routledge.
7.
Bumpass, L., & Raley, K. ( 2007). Measuring separation and divorce. In S. L. Hofferth & L. M. Casper (Eds.), Handbook of measurement issues in family research (pp. 125-143). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Buunk, A.P. ( 2006). Responses to a happily married other: The role of relationship satisfaction and social comparison orientation. Personal Relationships , 13, 397-409.
9.
Catalano, R., Bruckner, T., Gould, J., Eskenazi, B., & Anderson, E. ( 2005). Sex ratios in California following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Human Reproduction, 20, 1221-1227.
10.
Catalano, R., Bruckner, T., Marks, A.R., & Eskenazi, B. ( 2006). Exogenous shocks to the human sex ratio: The case of September 11, 2001 in New York City. Human Reproduction, 21, 3127-3131.
11.
Cohan, C.L., & Cole, S. ( 2002). Life course transitions and natural disaster: Marriage, birth, and divorce following Hurricane Hugo. Journal of Family Psychology, 16, 14-25.
12.
Cohan, C.L., Cole, S., & Schoen, R. ( 2007). Federal immigration policy and change in divorce rates . Manuscript in preparation.
13.
Cryer, J.D. ( 1986). Time series analysis. Boston, MA: PWS-Kent Publishing Company.
14.
Davila, J., & Bradbury, T. N. (1998). Psychopathology and the marital dyad. In L. L ’AbateFamily psychopathology: The relational roots of dyfunctional behavior (pp. 127-157). New York: Guilford Press.
15.
Dillon, N., & Schoolman, J. ( 2002, April 22). City can expect job losses to grow. Daily News, 30.
16.
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., & Hirschberger, G. (2002). The anxiety-buffering function of close relationships: Evidence that relationship commitment acts as a terror management mechanism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 527-542.
17.
Galea, S., Ahern, J., Resnick, H., Kilpatrick, D., Bucuvalas, M., Gold, J., et al. (2002). Psychological sequelae of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 982-987.
18.
Galea, S., & Resnick, H. ( 2005). Posttraumatic stress disorder in the general population after mass terrorist incidents: Considerations about the nature of exposure . CNS Spectrums, 10, 107-115.
19.
Hanson, R.F., Kilpatrick, D.G., Freedy, J.R., & Saunders, B.E. (1995). Los Angeles County after the 1992 civil disturbances: Degree of exposure and impact on mental health . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 987-996.
20.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P.R. ( 1994). Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 5, 1-22.
21.
Hill, R., & Hansen, D.A. ( 1962). Families in disaster. In G. W. Baker & D. W. Chapman (Eds.), Man and society in disaster (pp. 185-221). New York: Basic Books.
22.
Hirschberger, G., Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (2003). Strivings for romantic intimacy following partner complaint or partner criticism: A terror management perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 20, 675-687.
23.
Johnson, K. ( 2002, September 8). Threats and responses: The families; in bereavement, pioneers on a lonely trail. The New York Times , pp. A1, A20, A21.
24.
Karney, B.R., & Bradbury, T.N. (1995). The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, method, and research . Psychological Bulletin, 118, 3-34.
25.
Lipman-Blumen, J. ( 1975). A crisis framework applied to macrosociological family changes: Marriage, divorce, and occupational trends associated with World War II. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 37, 889-902.
26.
Marshall, R.D., Bryant, R.A., Amsel, L., Suh, E.J., Cook, J.M., & Neria, Y. ( 2007). The psychology of ongoing threat: Relative risk appraisal, the September 11 attacks, and terrorism-related fears. American Psychologist, 62, 304-316.
27.
McLeod, J.D. ( 1994). Anxiety disorders and marital quality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 767-776.
28.
Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. ( 2000). Exploring individual differences in reactions to mortality salience: Does attachment style regulate terror management mechanisms? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 260-273.
29.
Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Hirschberger, G. (2003). The existential function of close relationships: Introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 20-40.
30.
Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Hirschberger, G. (2004). The terror of death and the quest for love: An existential perspective on close relationships. In J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp. 287-304). New York: Guilford.
31.
Nakonezny, P.A., Reddick, R., & Rodgers, J.L. ( 2004). Did divorces decline after the Oklahoma City bombing ? Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 90-100.
32.
Ness, C., Schevitz, T., & Aguila, J. ( 2001, September 12). L.A. in shock - 3 of the 4 crashed planes were bound for LAX, San Francisco Chronicle, A24.
33.
New Jersey Center for Health Statistics. New Jersey Resident Deaths Due to the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001. http://www.state.nj.us/health/chs/sept11mortstats.htm , accessed 11/ 20/2006.
34.
Norris, F.H. ( 2002). Disasters in urban context. Journal of Urban Health, 79, 308-314.
35.
Norris, F.H., Friedman, M.J., Watson, P., Byrne, C.M., Diaz, E., & Kaniasty, K. ( 2002). 60,000 disaster victims speak: Part I. An empirical review of the empirical literature, 1981-2001. Psychiatry, 65, 207-239.
36.
Psyzcynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. ( 1999). A dual process model of defense against conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory . Psychological Review, 106, 835-845.
37.
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J. ( 2003). In the wake of 9/11: The psychology of terror. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
38.
Rodgers, J.L., St John, . C.A., & Coleman, R. ( 2005). Did fertility go up after the Oklahoma City bombing? An analysis of births in metropolitan counties in Oklahoma, 1990-1999. Demography, 42, 675-692.
39.
Rubonis, A.V., & Bickman, L. ( 1991). Psychological impairment in the wake of disaster: The disaster-psychopathology relationship. Psychological Bulletin , 109, 384-399.
40.
Schlenger, W.E., Caddell, J.M., Ebert, L., Jordan, B.K., Rourke, K.M., Wilson, D., et al. (2002). Psychological reactions to terrorist attacks: Findings from the National Study of Americans’ Reactions to September 11. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 581-588.
41.
Schuster, M.A., Stein, B.D., Jaycox, L.H., Collins, R.L., Marshall, G.N., Elliott, et al. (2001). A national survey of stress reactions after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1507-1512.
42.
Silver, R.C., Holman, E.A., McIntosh, D.N., Poulin, M., & Gil-Rivas, V. ( 2002). Nationwide longitudinal study of psychological responses to September 11. Journal of the American Medical Association , 288, 1235-1244.
43.
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszcynski, T. (1991). A terror management theory of social behavior: The psychological functions of self esteem and cultural worldviews. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 24, pp. 93-159). New York: Academic.
44.
South, S.J. ( 1985). Economic conditions and the divorce rate: A time-series analysis of the postwar United States. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 31-41.
45.
South Carolina Governor’s Office (1991 ). An analysis of the damage and effects of Hurricane Hugo and status of recovery one year later. Division of Intergovernmental Relations.
46.
Stein, B.D., Elliott, M.N., Jaycox, L.H., Collins, R.L., Berry, S.H., Klein, D.J., et al. (2004). A national longitudinal study of the psychological consequences of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: Reactions, impairment, and help-seeking. Psychiatry, 67, 105-117.
47.
Taylor, S.E., Buunk, B.P., Collins, R.L., & Reed, G.M. ( 1992). Social comparison and affiliation under threat. In L. Montada, S. Filipp, & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Life crises and experiences of loss in adulthood (pp. 213-227). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
48.
Vlahov, D. ( 2002). Urban disaster: A population perspective. Journal of Urban Health, 79, 295.
49.
Vlahov, D., Galea, S., Resnick, H., Ahern, J., Boscarino, J.A., Bucuvalas, M., et al. (2002). Increased use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana among Manhattan, New York, residents after the September 11th terrorist attacks. American Journal of Epidemiology, 155, 988-996.
50.
Wisman, A., & Koole, S.L. ( 2003). Hiding in the crowd: Can mortality salience promote affiliation with others who oppose one’s worldviews? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 511-526.
51.
Woodberry, W. ( 2002, April 25). No 9/11 aid for 9,000 who lost aviation jobs . Daily News, 6.
52.
Yednak, C. & Mellen, K. ( 2001, September 12). Chicago’s high-rise landmarks take security precautions, Chicago Tribune, 14.
53.
Yeung, W.J., & Hofferth, S.L. (1998). Family adaptations to income and job loss in the U.S. Journal of Family and Economic Issues , 19, 255-283.
