DEVELOPMENT OFTERRORISM IMPACT SCALE: INITIAL VALIDITY · PDF fileDEVELOPMENT OFTERRORISM...

Paki:mm Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology2010, Vol. 8, No.2, 91 - 118

DEVELOPMENT OF TERRORISM IMPACTSCALE: INITIAL VALIDITY AND

RELIABILITY ANALYSES

Farah Malik, Rabia Khawar, Rabia Iftikhar;Saima Saeed and Rehana Ilyas

Department of PsychologyGC University, L.ahore, Pakistan

This study describe.o:;the development and psychometric properties of TerrorismImpact Scale (TIS). Items generated were ba::;edon two focus groups withjournalists. personnel from security forces and experts from diffcrent walk::;oflife, in-depth interviews conductcd with religious scholars and a preliminaryquestionnaire administered to the survivors of terrorist attacks, witnesses andgeneral public in Lahore. Initially, a pool of 200 items was generated tappingdifferent types of impact of terrorism ill the society (e.g., emotional,psychOlogical. and socia-cultural). An expert opinion based pool of 95 itemswas retained for initial empirical evaluation on four groups (students, generalpublic, terror attack survivors, and security forces, N = 280). The factor analyticstrategy generated 5 clusters with 64 items, labeled as State Affairs,Psychosocial Distress, Civic Affairs. Governance h~ues, and Resilience. TISdemonstrated significant conslfUct validity and reliability overall and for its 5subscale~. Item analysis and alpha coefficients revealed significantly highinternal consistency for [he measure. Further analysis of data rcvealedsignificant differences alllong parlicipant groups for impact of terrorism.

Keywords: terrorism, Pakistan, impact of terrorism, resilience

The impact of terrorism cannot belimited to any. one dimension as actsof terrorism may affect the entire lifeand society. Terrorism is an art withthe key aim to demoralize thecommunity and undermine its sense ofsecurity; it leaves everlasting effects

Dr. Farah Malik, Department of Psychology,GC University, KatchelY Road, Lahore. Ms.Rabia Khawar, Lecturer, GCU, Faisalabad.Ms. Rehaml Ilyas, PhD Scholar, Ms. RahiaJftikhar, Research Associate, Ms. Saima Saeed,Research Assistant, Department ofPsychology, GC University, Kalchery Road,Lahore.Correspondence concerning this article

should bc addressed to Dr. Farah Malik,...Chairperson, Department of Psychology. GCUniversity, Kalchery Road, Lahore .54000,Pakistan. Email: [email protected];[email protected]

.on the masses. There is no officiallyagreed upon definition of terrorism; itdepends on who is defining and whichtype of event is being defined, e.g.,terrorism as both a tactic and strategy;a crime and a holy duty; a justifiedreaction to oppression and aninexcusable abomination. But it doesnot mean that no one has tried todefine terrorism. Different states havecoined different terms to distinguishterrorism from war and other types ofviolence. Initially, terrorism had beendefined as criminal acts directedagainst a state and intended orcalculated to create a state of terror inthe minds of particular persons, agroup of persons or the general public(Saul, 2006).

The US Department of Defense's

,,

mailto:[email protected];

mailto:[email protected]

92 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE

J Dictionary of Military (2009) hasrecently defined terrorism as thecalculated use of unlawful violence orthreat of unlawful violence toinculcate fear; and is intended tocoerce or to intimidate governments orsocieties in the pursuit of goalsgenerally political, religious, orideological (as cited in Zalman,2010a). Three key elements discus~edhere arc fear, violence andintimidallon. International Terrorismand Security Research (2001) hasidentified that terrorist groups commitacts of violence to produce wide-spread fear and to obtainworldwide/national/local recognitionfor their cause by attracting theattention of the media. Terrorism isintended to harass, weaken, orembarrass the government andsecurity forces. It may resort tostealing or extorting money andequipment, especially weapons andammunition vital to the operation oftheir group. It may destroy facilities ordisrupt lines of communication inorder to create doubts about capabilityof government to provide for andprotect its citizens. This results indiscouragement of foreigninvestments, tourists and otherassistance programs that can affect thetarget country's economy and supportof ' the government in power. It alsoinfluences government decisions,legislation, or other critical decisions.Also, the terrorists strategically forcethe government and security forces toconcentrate their efforts in urbanareas, thereby establishing themselvesamong the local populace in ruralareas meanwhile.

Pakistan has played a key role inthe 'global scenario of terrorism.

Political leaders in different eras havetaken up this issue in varying ways.Even when Pakistan has become a USally in this war, she is still blamed forhaving Taliban, Mujahidin, and AlQaeda in its Northern Areas. In fact,Pakistan has very complexrelationship with terrorism, During80's, government under militarydictatorship servcd as a primaryincubator for the Mujahidins (nowTaliban) by adopting a diplomatic tiewith the group. The government laterdecided to join forces with US after9/11 for global war on terrorism.However, Pakistanis as a nation didnot agree to this. They considered thenominatcd terrorists as 'holy warriorswho went against US in Kashmir. In2002, government of Pakistan, undermilitary dictatorship, decided not tosupport madrassas and took morecounter-terrorism actions, Thisresulted in more reaction fromterrorists in Pakistan. The US forceswere allowed for the, militaryoperation in Pakistan northern tribalareas so that the war could be cnded.But the war continued for the next twoyears which nurtured and strengthcnedTaliban in the country. In 2008,civilian rule again replaced themilitary as the latter was unable todeal with the issue of extremism incertain areas (Zalman, 20 lOb). Thispermission to US armed forces tooperate from our, land has created anegative perception of US amongpublic in Pakistan. Although US andPakistan are close allies in war againstterrorism now, but Pakistani nation isfaced with increasing terror attacks onits security 'forces and public.Therefore, Pakistani people carrynegative perceptions about America in

terms of the latter's negative anddominant inlluence behind thecountry's situation and interference atall levels. (Tarar & Rubina, 2010).

Although the whole world isfacing the problem of terroristactivities in one or some other form,these activities and attacks arcspreading like cancer in Pakistan.Viewing the history, terrorist attacksmovement started on November 6,2002 when a lady blew herself in frontof a newspaper office in Karachi,injuring 6 other people. Since then,there have been countless incidentsclaiming lives in hundreds and injuriesin thousands. There has been a steadyrise in the incidents since 2006 withits peak in August 2007. NWFP is themost affected province followed byFederally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA). The security personnel havebeen the main target of suicidebombing, followed by religious sects(Yousafzai & Siddiqui, 2007). Thewave of attacks is going on and everymonth, and sometimes every weekthere are attacks throughout thecountry. Big cities as Karachi,Peshawar and Lahorc are at thehighest risk. Security forces andpolice appear to be helpless to stopsuch kind of terrorism. In 2010,during the month of Ramadan, therewere three attacks in Peshawar,Karachi and Lahore; the most recentone is on Shin's procession in Karachiand in the same cvening three suicideattacks were carried out in Lahore atKarbla Game Shah.

According to Southern Associa-tion for Institutional Research (SAIR,2010), Pakistan has been a place offatalities augmented significantly eachinstability and widespread strife with

year since 2003 but 2009 migcalled the fatal year in its historyat least 11,585 fatalities in a ye'lactual numbers could besignificantly higher). At leastmajor incidents (involving thnmore fatalities every time)reported through 2009 (SATP, ;Unsurprisingly, suicide attacks wthe forefront. Compared to 893 (in 59 suicide attacks in 2008, tht2009 recorded a total of 76 SI

attacks, in which 949 personskilled. In the year 2010, total 34blasts were observed in Pa'killing 775 people and 1359 if(South Asia Terrorism Portal, ;Tables I and 2 show this alaipicture regarding SuicideAttacks in Pakistan as well afatalities resulting from the telviolence in Pakistan over the yeaIn Pakistan, some of these telactivities are attributed to the poinstability, economic condit-ion Istandard of life of the massesothers look at this as reliextremism of a portion of the IT

of Pakistan. Another school of thsays that the injustice done by wsuperpowers towards the thirdcountries and especially Mcountries, have led the world tlsituation. Yct there is another sof thought that attributes CI

terrorism activities like blastssuicide attacks as the game of pogains by world's super- powers;others have termed this confusiclash of civilization between WeiIslam.

Whatever might be the realthe ultimate affectsmultidimensional and much hOI

".h --'",;1

TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE 93

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terms of the latter's negative anddominant influence behind thecountry's situation and interference atall levels. (Tarar & Rubina, 20JO).

Although the whole world isfacing the problem of terroristactivities in one or some other form,these activities and attacks arespreading like cancer in Pakistan.Viewing the history, terrorist attacksmovement started on November' 6,2002 when a lady blew herself in frontof a newspaper office in Karachi,injuring 6 other people. Since then,there have been countless incidentsclaiming lives in hundreds and injuriesin thousands. There has been a steadyrise in the incidents since 2006 withits peak in August 2007. NWFP is themost affected province followed byFederally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA). The security personnel havebeen the main target of suicidebombing, followed by religiolls sects(Yousafzai & Siddiqui, 2007). Thewave of attacks is going on and everymonth, and sometimes every weekthere are attacks throughout thecountry. Big cities as Karachi,Peshawar and Lahore are at thehighest risk. Security forces andpolice appear to be helpless to stopsuch kind of terrorism. In 2010,during the month of Ramadan, therewere three attacks in Peshawar,Karachi and Lahore; the most recentone is on Shia's procession in Karachiand in the same evening three suicideattacks were carried alit in Lahore atKarbla Game Shah.

According to Southern Associa-tion for Institutional Research (SAIR,20 I0), Pakistan has been a place offatalities augmented significantly eachinstability and widespread strife with

year since 2003 but 2009 might becalled the fatal year in its history, withat least 11,585 fatalities in a year (theactual numbers could be evensignifieantly higher). At least 723major incidents (involving three ormore fatalities every time) werereported through 2009 (SATP, 2010).Unsurprisingly, suicide attacks were atthe forefront. Compared to 893 deathsin 59 suicide attacks in 2008, the year2009 recorded a total of 76 suicideattacks, in which 949 persons werekilled. In the year 2010, total 34 bombblasts were observed in Pakistankilling 775 people and 1359 injured(South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2010).Tables I and 2 show this alarmingpicture regarding Suicide SquadAttacks in Pakistan as well as thefatalities resulting from the terroristviolence in Pakistan over the years.In Pakistan, some of these terroristactivities are attributed to the politicalinstability, economic condit-ions, andstandard of life of the masses whileothers look at this as religiousextremism of a portion of the massesof Pakistan. Another school of thoughtsays that the injustice done by world'ssuperpowers towards the third worldcountries and especially Muslimcountries, have led the world to thissituation. Yet there is another schoolof thought that attributes currentterrorism activities like blasts andsuicide attacks as the game of politicalgains by world's super- powers; someothers have termed this confusion asclash of civilization between West andIslam.

Whatever might be the reason,the ultimate affects aremultidimensional and much horrible,

\ Year Total incidents Killed Injured,!

34 775 135920102009 76 949 23562008 59 893 18462007 54 765 16772006 7 161 3522005 4 84 2192004 7 89 3212003 2 69 1032002 1 15 34

Source: Southern Association for Institutional Research, 2010

Table 2Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in Pakistan from 2003-2010

Table 1Terrorist Attacks and Fatalities in Pakistan from 2002-2010

* Data till September 5,2010* Source: Figures are compiled from news reports and are provisional information.

experience some symptoms, i.e,and anxiety, crying, whimpscreaming, excessive clinging, fidarkness or animals, confldisobedience, depression, nightl!irritability, fear of being left i

sleep disturbances, alcohol anddrug use, sensitivity to loud netc, Children might face problempoor academic performancebehavioral problems in senvironment, etc. The research I

has focused on the shortconsequences but long-term pro!also need to be studied. Alttterrorism has posed severe prolfor Pakistan, not much rcsearclbeen done in this area except ~researchers who have takeninitiative. However, literatureother cultures shows a danglpicture of its aftermath on farrindividuals, and nation at large. Isecond person in Pakistan is sufffrom psychological stress and I

due to upheavals in the COt

Severe economic crisis, lawles:and terrorism are deteriotpeople's mental health, There inational data present onpsychological effects of terrorislgeneral population in Pakistanstudies carried out in other COUl

show that the direct victimlterrorism develop acute Sdisorder, their risk of serious millness increases, development oftraumatic "Stress disorder can go lthe range of 12-16 % as reported.a meta analysis and substance abuanother complication, Children bmore vulnerable may develop amand depressive disorders. There isan evidence of physical prob11Resilience factors are also enhal

TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE

there is less evidence about the. intermediate . and long-termpsychological consequences ofterrorism and other risk factors

. (Desivilya, Gal, & Ayalon, 1996;Jehel, Duchet, Patemiti, Consoli, &Gue1fi, 2001; Shalev, 1992). A large

. scale telephonic survey in Israel with905 adult Jewish and Palestiniancitizens indicated that exposure to

I terrorism was significantly related to. ,greater loss of psycho-social resources'., and to greater PTSD and depressive<symptoms and this relationship was"freciprocal. Palestinian citizens had,fsignificanUy higher levels of PTSD;' and depression than Jews' (Hobfoll,".Canetti-Nisim, Johnson, & Robert,~.2006). Similarly, Verger et al. (2004)lfound high prevalence of PTSDsymptoms over a period of 2.6 years

, on the average after the terrorist attacktof 1995-96 in'.France. After reviewing"the literature on the psychological, impact of terrorism on children andlifamilies in the US of the 1993 and.September 11 attacks, Pfefferbaum et.ai, (2005) reported the impact of

,'..yarious forms and degrees of exposureJto terrorism on children, while.emphasizing the need to look intochildren's adaptation to mass trauma.

~Also they notcd that studies so far',.provide critical information regardingI.the relationship between exposure toiinass trauma and outcomes but more'lrcJlned approaches are needed to,laddress developmental, family and.~socio-cultural factors in the global"f:.context of terrorism./!;. No one can remain untouched;~by the after effects after having seen a'terrorist attack. In both types of"disaster trauma, whether individual or,ommunity based, the persons

Total

189

863

648

1471

3598

6715

11704

5708

30896

25

244

137

538

1479

3906

8389

4071

18789

TerroristslInsurgents

specifically designed to coercemodern liberal democracies to makesignificant territorial concessions(Pape, 2003). Regardless of theinerease in terrorist attacks worldwide,

24

184

81

325

597

654

991

341

3197

Security ForcePersonnel

MALIK, KHAWAR, lFfIKHAR, SAEED & ILY AS

•

both for the society and the state interms of economic security as well aspsychological threats to its masses.Suicide terrorism is rising around theglobe and it follows a strategic logic

2003 140

2004 435

2005 .430

2006 . 608

2007 1522

2008 2155

20092324

2010* 1296

Total 8910

Year Civilians

94

•

i.


\

there is less evidence about theintermediate and long-termpsychological consequences ofterrorism and other risk factors(Oesivilya, Gal, & Ayalon, 1996;Jehel, Ouchet, Patemiti, Consoli, &Guelfi, 2001; Shalev, 1992). A largescale telephonic survey in Israel with905 adult Jewish and Palestiniancitizens indicated that exposure talterrorism was significantly related togreater loss of psycho-social resourcesand to greater PTSO and depressivesymptoms and this relationship wasreciprocal. Palestinian citizens hadsignificantly higher levels of PTSOand depression than Jews' (HobfolI,Canetti-Nisim, Johnson, & Robert,2006). Similarly, Verger et al. (2004)found high prevalence of PTSOsymptoms over a period of 2.6 yearson the average after the terrorist attackof 1995-96 in France. After reviewingthe literature on the psychologicalimpact of terrorism on children andfamilies in the US of the 1993 andSeptember 11 attacks, Pfefferbaum etai, (2005) repOited the impact ofvarious forms and degrees of exposureto terrorism on children, whileemphasizing the need to look intochildren's adaptation to mass trauma.Also they noted that studies so farprovide critical information regardingthe relationship between exposure tomass trauma and outcomcs but morerefined approaches are needed toaddress developmental, family andsocia-cultural factors in the globalcontext of terrorism.

No one can remain untouchedby thc after effects after having seen aterrorist attack. In both types ofdisaster trauma, whether individual orcommunity based, the persons

experience some symptoms, i.e., fearand anxiety, crymg, whimpering.screaming, excessive clinging, fear ofdarkness or animals, confusion,disobedience, depression, nightmares,irritability, fear of being left alone,sleep disturbances, alcohol and otherdrug use, sensitivity to loud noises,etc. Children might face problems likepoor academic performance andbehavioral problems in schoolenvironment, etc. The research so farhas focused on the short-termconsequences but long-term problemsalso need to be studied. Althoughterrorism has posed severe problemsfor Pakistan, not much research hasbeen done in this area except a fewresearchers who have taken theinitiative. However, literature fromother cultures shows a dangerouspicture of its aftermath on families,individuals, and nation at large. Everysecond person in Pakistan is sufferingfrom psychological stress and straindue to upheavals in the country.Severe economic crisis, lawlessnessand terrorism are deterioratingpeople's mental health. There is nonational data present on thepsychological effects of terrorism ongeneral population in Pakistan butstudies carried out in other countriesshow that the direct victims ofterrorism develop acute stressdisorder, their risk of serious mentalillness increases, development of posttraumatic stress disorder can go up tothe range of 12-16 % as reported froma meta analysis and substance abuse isanother complication. Children beingmore vulnerable may develop anxietyand depressive disorders. There is alsoan evidence of physical problems.Resilience factors are also enhanced

96 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILY AS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE 97

by the social support and pcriodicscreening of mental health and theservices provided (Gadith, 2009).Terrorism is significantly related toboth greater PTSD and depressivesymptoms. PTSD can lead todefensivc coping ultimately (Hobfollet aI., 2006). The psychologicalimpact of tcrrorism is not limited tothe way people behave during attacks,rather fear for having terror attacks infuturc might be extremelyincapacitating in terms ofpsychological functioning (Somer,Tamir, Maguen, & Litz, 2005). Thishas becn explored by manyresearchers in terms of cognitivedistortions predisposing psycho-pathology especially anxiety disordersin terms of uncertainty and threat offuture harm (Beck, 1976, Clark, 1986;Schniering & Rapee, 2004, Sinclair &LoCicero, 2006).

For the people of Pakistan,psychological impact is not the onlystory; rather, terror attack is amultidimcnsional phenomenon thatneeds to be explored from theperspective of people of Pakistan who.are facing this situation and aresurviving under this threat for lastdecade. It might have adverse impacton their mental and psychologicalhealth, the economic and socialinfrastructure of the society. There is amassive need to understand andexplore the impact of the currentsituation from the indigenousperspective of the people of Pakistanwho are the real victims of thisdevastating situation. As far asperception of people in Pakistanregarding September 11 attacks in USis concerned, in a study carried outright after that incident, Rehman and

Malik (2003) found a - sympatheticattitude of Pakistani public towardsUS nation for having innocent peopletargeted by the attackers which cannotbe justitied on both religious andantagonistic grounds. Recently manyresearchers have taken initiatives tounderstand the impact of terror attackson the mental health of differentsegments of Pakistani population e.g.,Malik, Hassan, and Perveen (2010)investigated the impact of the suicideattacks on the mental health ofadolescents in Pakistan through anindigenously developed Mental HealthQuestionnaire and found 58% of themscored well above the cut off score ofMHQ depicting mental healthconcerns as an outcome of suicideterrorism. Qualitative analysisrevcaled major themes of disruptiveroutine, fear and psychologicalconcerns of fear, low psychologicalwell-being, and emotional disturb-ances. Haq and Kausar (2010) in astudy on male traffic police wardens(being the easy target for terrorattacks among security forces) inLahore found a significant relation-ship among resilience, cognitiveappraisal and coping strategies;however, traffic police wardens scoredhigher on state resilience and perceiveit as having personal significance.Mostly, they use coping strategiesincluded avoidance focused copingfollowed by active practical andreligious coping. Nayab and Kamal(2010) found that the people whowitness horrifying terrorist attacksexperience more death anxiety andstress. Hence, there is a need to lookinto the aftennath of this mass traumaand this need to address family andsocio-cultural factors in the context of

terrorism has also been highlighted inthe westcrn research (Pfefferbaum etaI., 2005). As posed by Bongar (2006)that "psychological science to provideeffective treatment to the victims ofsuch horrendous events doesn't exist."It was later elaborated on by Ruzek,Maguen, and Litz (2006) whilehighlighting the necd of generatingparticular information which couldhelp these people to cope with theongoing threat of terrorism. Ajmal(2010) has argued that acomprehensive information andcommunication strategy is required todeal with the situation in Pakistan.Therefore, the critical scenario ofPakistan, where people are facing anincident like 9111 every day and attimes even more than one incidents aday, demands indigenous research andespecially the development of theindigenous measures to understandthe effects of terrorism from the pointof view of Pakistani people.Therefore, the current study is aneffort to develop an indigenous self-report scale to measure the impact ofterror attacks on the people ofPakistan who directly or indirectly areinfluenced by the prevailing situationof insecurity and risk. The mainobjecti ve of the current research wasto look at terrorism by developing andvalidating a new measure, theTerrorism Impact Scale (TIS) basedon the indigenously generated dataregarding the perceived impact on thepeople of Pakistan with regard to theirmental or psychological health, otherrelated aspects of their life andPakistani socio-cultural context atlarge. Moreover, investigatingpeople's perceptions about the issue ofterrorism in peculiar context of

Pakistan to come up with its definitionin this particular context was anotherimportant objcctive.

MethodPhase I: Item Generation

Participants

The participants for in-depthinterviews included two religiousscholars (I Shia and 1 Sunni). Thesample for.the focus groups included9 professionals/experts from differentwalks of life as educationists,economists, psychologists, journalists,personnel from security forces, mediaanchor persons and 10 MPhil and PhDstudents of Psychology and otherdepartments at GC University, La-hore.

Procedure

In step I, phenomenology ofterrorism and its impact on people ofPakistan was explored with the help offocus groups, semi-structured intcrv-iews with religious scholars andpublic opinion pool. Semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with tworeligious scholars, one each from Shiaand Sunni sects to collcct in-depthinformation. These interviews wererecorded with their permission toextract information. They were askedas to how they defined ten"orism andsaw its impacts on general public andsociety at large ..

Two focus. groups wereconducted; one with professionals andexperts from different walks of lifeand second with 10 students of MPhiland PhD from different departments inGC University including Psychology.Content analysis of these two focus


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terrorism has also been highlighted inthe western research (Pfefferbaum etaI., 2005). As posed by Bongar (2006)that "psychological science to provideeffective treatment to the victims ofsuch horrendous events doesn't exist."It was later elaborated on by Ruzek,Maguen, and Litz (2006) whilehighlighting the need of generatingparticular information which couldhelp these people to cope with thkongoing threat of terrorism. Aj mal(2010) has argued that acomprehensive information andcommunication strategy is required todeal with the situation in Pakistan.Therefore, the critical scenario ofPakistan, where people are facing anincident like 9/11 every day and attimes even more than one incidents aday, demands indigenous research andespecially the development of theindigenous measures to understandthe effects of terrorism from the pointof view of Pakistani people.Therefore, the current study is aneffort to develop an indigenous self-report scale to measure the impact ofterror attacks on the people ofPakistan who directly or indirectly areinfluenced by the prevailing situationof insecurity and risk. The mainobjective of the current research wasto look at terrorism by developing andvalidating a new measure, theTerrorism Impact Scale (TIS) basedon the indigenously generated dataregarding the perceived impact on thepeople of Pakistan with regard tei theirmental or psychological health, otherrelated aspects of their life andPakistani socio-cultural context atlarge. Moreover, investigatingpeople: s perceptions about the issue ofterrorism in peculiar context of

Pakistan to come up with its definitionin this particular context was anotherimportant objective.

MethodPhase I: Item Generation

Participants

The participants for in-depthinterviews included two religiousscholars (I Shia and I Sunni). Thesample for the focus groups included9 professionals/experts from differentwalks of life as educationists,economists, psychologists, journalists,personnel from security forces, mediaanchor persons and 10 MPhil and PhDstudents of Psychology and otherdepartments at GC University, La-hore.

Procedure

In step I, phenomenology ofterrorism and its impact on people ofPakistan was explored with the help offocus groups, semi-structured interv-iews with religious scholars andpublic opinion pool. Semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with tworeligious scholars, one each from Shiaand Sunni sects to collect in-depthinformation. These interviews wererecorded with their permission toextract information. They were askedas to how they defined terrorism andsaw its impacts on general public andsociety at large.

Two focus. groups wereconducted; one with professionals andexperts from different walks of lifeand second with 10 students of MPhiland PhD from different departments inGC University including Psychology.Content analysis of these two focus

98 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS TERRO~SMIMPACTSCALE

groups revealed different aspects ofterrorism like its defining character-istics, potential factors, impact onvarious aspects of people's life anddifferent coping strategies etc,

To develop a larger opinion pool,a preliminary questionnaire wasconstructed which was administeredto the students (n = 30), gencral public(n = 30) and survivors and ey!"witnesses of terrorist attacks (n = 30)at different places in Lahore being themost recent targets of terror attacks;Moon Market, FIA building andsurrounding area in Regal Chowk, andsurrounding areas of Rescue 15building in China Chowk.

As a result of this exercise, a poolof 200 items was derived out of thecontcnt analysis of the focus groups,in-depth interviews and itemsmentioned by the general public. Theimpacts of terrorism mentioned by theparticipants included in Phase I mostlyindicated negative or adverse impactsbut some positive perceptions werealso identified, Perceived negativeimpact was related to the cognitive,behavioral and affective turrnoil,social paralyses and prejudices,religious detachment and misinterpret-ation, declined cducational standards,and lack of coping mechanisms,Positive impact indicated by allparticipants included determination,increasing sense of patriotism andunity etc,

This pool was then subjected tothe expert opinion (research team and2 experts in the field of Psychology)for the clarity of the items and toavoid any overlap which ended up atthe selection of 95 items. These itemswere then transformed into statementsof a self-report question-

naire/measure to be rated on 4-pointLikert scale with response categoriesof "Strongly Disagree, Disagree,Agree, Strongly Agree" scored from I- 4 and reverse for the items indicatingpositive impact.

A try out study was carried outwith 10 students at GC University,Lahore and 10 individuals fromgeneral public to confirrn the compre-hension level for the sample whichindicated problems of distinguishing afew statemcnts being as positive ornegative. These statements weremodified accordingly,

Phase II: Item Evaluation

SampleA stratified sample of 300 adults

with age of 18 to 65 years was drawnfrom 4 segments of the targetpopulation but final analysis wascarried out with 280 total participantsdue to 20 dropouts. Sample included100 students (50 men, 50 women) ofBAiBSc Hons, MAIM Sc, M Phil andPhD from different institutions ofLahore, i,e" GC University, LahoreCollege for Women University,COMSATS and University of thePunjab with age range from 18 - 24years (M = 21.24, SD = 3,3); 100individuals from general public, withan equal number of men and women,included professionals from differentwalks of life such as doctors, lawyers,educationists, businessmen, traders,shopkeepers, drivers, clerks etc, andalso working and non-workingwomen, Third group included 50survivors of terrorist/suicide attacks (n= 50) in Lahore drawn from the RegalChowk, Moon Market, RA Bazaar,being the most recent affected areas in

Lahore for the incidents of theterrorist attacks at the time of thecurrent study (age M = 34,68, SD =12,5). Fifty officials from securityforces were approached from Rescue1122, Punjab Police, Traffic wardensand Elite Force (age M= 31.13, SD =3,6) but their turn out rate was 30, Allthe survivors and security officialswere males?

Matriculation (lOth grade) was theminimum education required for theparticipants of the current study,

Procedure

The questionnaire compnsmg of95 items/statements was subjected toempirical evaluation on a sample of280 participants drawn from fourgroups; students, public, survivors ofsuicide attacks .and security forces fordetermining . the psychometriccharacteristics of the measure.

The respondents were approachedindividually at their respective places,offices, shops, or universities andcolleges after seeking formalpermission and inforrned consent toparticipate, They were ensuredconfidentiality of the information. Theparticipants were more than willing togive their opinion on this crucial issue.The data were then subjected tostatistical evaluation for determiningthe construct validity,' reliability andinternal consistency of the measure.

The. data were then' subjected tothe Principal' Component Analysiswith Varimax rotation and itemanalysis to finalize the measure (seeTables 1 & 2), The commonconstructs identified through factoranalysis and item analysis were

labeled according to the emergthemes reflecting items cluste,together and the measure was nanas Terrorism Impact Scale (TITherefore, the final version of the 1comprised 64 items divided intosubscales named as State Affairs I

items), Psychosocial Distress I

items), Governance Issues (l3 itenCivic Affairs (9 items), and Resiliel(6 items), Out of 64 total items of ~6 positive items needed revesconng,

Phase III: Reliability Data

Test-retest reliability for TIS \determined while administering itthe available samples of gempublic (n = 52), students (11 = 58) alsecurity forces personnel (n = 30) 0a period of 6-8 weeks,

ResultsItem Analysis

Item analysis was conducted.computing item-total corrclattechnique on a sample almost 3 tilgreater (N = 280) than numberitems (95) which is an accept~condition although ideal ratio i!times (Comrey & Lee, 1991; Gom1983). The item analysis in Tabl,shows that all the selected items"significantly c'orrelated with tlTerrorism Impact Scale score excelitems retained for the final scale; ilnumbers 83, 90, and 92, The m;criteria for retaining items in the fimeasure was correlation "-whereas items 83, 90, and 92 shmcorrelation slightly :s .20. It is USUi

recommended to 'exclude such itt


Lahore for the incidents of theterrorist attacks at the time of thecurrent study (age M = 34.68, SD =12.5). Fifty officials from securityforces were approached from Rescue1122, Punjab Police, Traffic wardensand Elite Force (age M = 31.13, SD =3.6) but their turn out rate was 30. Allthe survivors and security officialswere males,

Matriculation (lO'h grade) was thdminimum education required for theparticipal1ls of the current study.

Procedure

The questionnaire compnsmg of95 items/statements was subjected toempirical evaluation on a sample of280 participants drawn from fourgroups; students, public, survivors ofsuicide attacks and security forces fordetermining the psychometriccharacteristics of the measure.

The respondents were approachedindividually at their respective places,offices, shops, or universities andcolleges after seeking formalpermission and informed consent toparticipate. They were ensuredconfidentiality of the information. Theparticipants were more than willing togive their opinion on this crucial issue.The data were then subjected tostatistical evaluation for determiningthe construct validity, reliability andinternal consistency of the measure.

The data were then subjected tothe Principal Component Analysiswith Varimax rotation and itemanalysis to finalize the measure (seeTables I & 2). The commonconstructs identified through factoranalysis and item analysis were

labeled according to - the emergingthemes reflecting items clusteredtogether and the measure was namedas Terrorism Impact Scale (TIS).Therefore, the final version of the TIScomprised 64 items divided into 5subscales named as State Affairs (17items), Psychosocial Distress (l9items), Governance Issues (13 items),Civic Affairs (9 items), and Resilience(6 items). Out of 64 total items of TIS6 positive items needed reversescoring.

Phase III: Reliability Data

Test-retest reliability for TIS wasdetermined while administering it tothe available samples of generalpublic (n = 52), students (n = 58) andsecurity forces personnel (n = 30) overa period of 6-8 weeks.

ResultsItem Analysis

Item analysis was conducted bycomputing item-total correlationtechnique on a sample almost 3 timesgreater (N = 280) than number ofitems (95) which is an acceptablecondition although ideal ratio is 5times (Comrey & Lee, 1991; Gorsuch,1983). The item analysis in Table Ishows that all the selected items weresignificantly correlated with totalTerrorism Impact Scale score except 3items retained for the final scale; itemnumbers 83, 90, and 92. The majorcriteria for retaining items in the finalmeasure was correlation 2: .20,whereas items 83, 90, and 92 showedcorrelation slightly :s .20. It is usuallyrecommended to exclude such items

100 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFfIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE

especially if they affect the totalreliability of the seale; but in certaineases these can be retained withappropriate rationale and if they donot affect the overall reliability of themeasure (George & Mallery, 2006).Hence, these items not only showedhigh loadings on Factor 5 (Resilienceas shown in Table 2) but also they didnot affect the overall reliability of themeasure which was above .80 a it'item was deleted. It is also importantto note that these items had reversescoring having depieted positiveimpact of terrorism, whieh eould alsobe the reason of showing lowercorrelation coefficients. Moreover,overall reliabi lity of the sealeremained significantly high (r = .93)even after retaining these items.

Construct Validity

Terrorism Impaet Scale was final-ized on the basis of the exploratoryPrinciple Component Analysis withVarimax rotation whieh ended up 5faetors solution based on a criterion offactor loadings of .35. and aboveexclusively on one faetor. Total 64 outof 95 items were clearly clustered into5 separate eategories measuringdifferent dimensions of impact ofterrorism, whieh were named as:

Factor I: State Affairs (17 items)Factor2:Psychosocial Distress (l9items)Factor3: Governance Issues (13 items)Factor4: Civic Affairs (9 items)Factor5: Resilience (6 items)

Therefore TIS finally contained64 items; 58 items mentioningnegative and 6 items indicatingpositive impact (reverse scoring). Theresults depicted that Factor I had an

Eigen value of 13.63 and it explained9.05% of the total variance. Factor 2had an Eigen value of 3.52 andFactors 3, 4 and 5 had Eigen values of2.94, 2.72 and 2.32 respectively withcumulative variance ranging from8.95 to 4.45. The overall varianceexplained by five factors was 34.4%(Table 2). Interestingly, most of thefactors emerged mainly depicted theadverse and negative impacts of theterrorism simation in the countryexcept factor 5 which measuredpositive impacts of terrorism.

Factors identified through factoranalysis were named keeping in viewthe common theme depicted by theitems under each category. Factor Iwas labeled as State Affairs (17 items)because it clustered all the itemsmentioning adverse impact on thecountry affairs as a state, Factor 2grouped items measuring psychosocialdistress (19 items) of the generalpublic m the society, Factor 3clustered the 13 items related to thegovernance issues and mis-managem-ent at the part of the government tohandle the problem of terrorism in thecountry, so it was labeled asGovernance Issues, Factor 4 clusteredoverall impact on the society so it wasnamed as Civic Affairs (9 items) andFactor 5 clustered items showingpositive outcome at the part of thepublic out of the negative situation inthe society so it was named asResilience (6 items). Total score on. the scale was sum of scores on all 64items which ranged from 64-320;higher the score higher would be theadverse impact of the situation ofterrorism. The scores on each of thesubscales was sum of the items of thescale which varied in number. In order

to make scores on different subscalescomparable, scaled scores werecomputed by using scaled scoreformula: scaled score = (XII) I(Option) x 10 where, X= Total scoreon a category, 1= Number of items inspecific category, and Option= No. ofresponse options for each category.The computed scale scores were thenused for further analysis (Mckinlay,Brooks, Bond, Martinage, & Marshal,1981 as cited in Kausar & Saghir,2010).

Construct validity was furtherendorsed by computing correlationmatrix for scores of five subscales andtotal TIS score. It depicted significantinter-correlations among factorsexcept for factor 5 i.e. Resilience,which showed significant correlationonly with factor 3 i.e., GovernanceIssues (r = .22, p < .01). All the fivefactors were' also significantlycorrelated with the total TIS score(Table 3).

Reliability Analyses

Terrorism Impact Scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency for64 items, determined by computingCronbach's alpha. which was highlysignificant (a = .93). The coefficient afor its five subscales ranged from .76 -.87 as depicted in Table 4.

The split-half reliability was alsosignificant; pat1 I (r = .90) and part 2

(r = .86) and correlation between thalves (r = .76) with Spearman Bwn coefficient of .79 and Gullm,split-half coefficient of .78.

Test-retest reliability for TIS valso computed with the availasamples of adults (n = 52), stude(n= 58) and security forces person(n = 30) over a period of 6-8 weeks.

Alpha coefficient for the Phasesample was .89. Correlations w,computed between their scoresPhase II and Phase III and were higlsignificant for total TIS (r = .88)well as its subscales; State Affairs (,.85), Psychosocial Distress (r = .8Governance Issues (r = .86), Ci'Affairs (r= .84) and Resilience (r.73).

Determining Cut-off Scores

Total score on TIS would be the SI

of the scores on all 64 items, higlthe score higher would be the advelimpact of terrorism. The mediscore computed for the sample \\221 with a mean of 217.45 (SD20.84), SE = 1.25) (TableFrequency and percentage for tsample was computed by takimedian score as a baseline whidepicted that almost half of the samlwas well above itif= 141,49.7%). Median score mi!be taken as cut-off point for timpact of terrorism.

TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE !OJ

to make scores on different subscalescomparable, scaled scores werecomputed by using scaled scoreformula: scaled score = (XII) I(Option) x 10 where, X= Total scoreon a category, 1= Number of items inspecific category, and Option= No. ofresponse options for each category,The computed scale scores were thenused for further analysis (Mckinlay;,,Brooks, Bond, Martinage, & Marshal,1981 as cited in Kausar & Saghir,2010),

Construct validity was furtherendorsed by computing correlationmatrix for scores of five subs cales andtotal TIS score. It depicted significantinter-correlations among factorsexcept for factor 5 i,e, Resilience,which showed significant correlationonly with factor 3 i,e" GovernanceIssucs (r = .22, p < .0 I), All the fivefactors werc also significantlycorrelated with the total TIS score(Table 3),

Reliability Analyses

Terrorism Impact Scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency for64 items, determined by computingCronbach's alpha which was highlysignificant (a = ,93), The coefficient afor its five subscales ranged from ,76 -.87 as depicted in Table 4,

The split-half reliability was alsosignificant; part I (r = .90) and part 2

(r = ,86) and correlation between twohalves (r = ,76) with Spearman Bro-wn coefficient of ,79 and Guttmannsplit-half coefficient of ,78,

Test-retest reliability for TIS wasalso computed with the availablesamples of adults (n = 52), students(n= 58) and security forces personnel(n = 30) over a period of 6-8 weeks,

Alpha coefficient for the Phase III'sample was ,89, Correlations werecomputed between their scores inPhase II and Phase III and werc highlysignificant for total TIS (r = ,88) aswell as its subscales; State Affairs (r =,85), Psychosocial Distress (r = ,82),Governance Issues (r = ,86), CivicAffairs (r= ,84) and Resiliencc (r =.73).

Determining Cut-off Scores

Total score on TIS would bc the sumof the scores on all 64 items, higherthe score highcr would be the adverseimpact of terrorism. Thc medianscore computed for thc sample was221 with a mean of 217.45 (SD =20.84), SE = 1.25) (Tablc 5).Frequency and pcrcentage for thcsample' was computed by takingmedian score as a baseline whichdepicted that almost half of the samplewas well above it(j= 141,49.7%). Median score mightbe taken as cut-off point for theimpact of terrorism,

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Table2

Factor

Loadingsfor

theItemsSelectedIor

TISohrained/rom

PrincipalCom

ponent

Factor

Analysis

(N=280)

(Ilems=58)

1

Item

No.

2] 26 27 32 33 34 36 37 38 40 4] 42 47 49 50 51 81 2 ]6 17 20

Stat

emen

ts

Selfi

shne

ssha

sbe

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Neg

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Pcop

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ings

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The

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Our

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F3F4

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CA

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Item

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,IItems

(Items

(Items

=17)

=16)

=10)

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=6)

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3.39

.39

3.42

.39

3.]4

.66

3.66

693.55

.54

3.45

.59

3.53

.48

3.44

.58

3.35

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3.33

.49

3.44

.43

3.65

.44

3.45

.52

3.32

.49

3.49

.44

3.46

.49

3.63

.47

3.18

.38

3.36

.39

3.20

.56

3.26

.SD .80

.76

.89

.61

.69

.71

.65

.82

.85

.85

.77

,56

.72

.85

.65

.72

.61

.92

.83

.85

.78

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Table 2

FaclOr Loadingsfor the Itellls Selectedfor TIS obtainedfrOln Principal COlllpollent FaclOr Analysis (N = 280) (Items =58)

Fl F2 F3 F4 F5Item No. Statements SA PD GI CA RS M SD

Items (Itellls (Items (Itellls (Items=17) =16) =10) = 9) = 6)

21 Selfishness has been increased in the country .... AI - - - 3.39 .8026 Negativity in thoughts and attitudes has emerged .. .39 - - - - 3042 .7627 Pnkistan has become isolated at a glob31Ievel.. .. .39 - - - - 3.14 .8932 Media is exerting negative impact on immature .. .66 - - - - 3.66 .6133 Country has become economically dependent. .69 - - - - 3.55 .6934 There is prevailing a common unrest in the country .. .54 - - - -- - 3.45 .7136 Negative effects on d<lily routine life ... .59 - - - - 3.53 .6537 Children arc getting aware of destructive weapons .... 048 - - - 3.44 .8238 Nation has developed inferiority complex ..... .58 - - - - 3.35 .8540 People's religious feelings have undermined .... .51 - - - - 3.33 .8541 There is an increased suspiciousness in the country ... 049 - - - - 3.44 .7742 Developmental projects have adversely been .. 043 - - - - 3.65 .5647 Increased mistrust for the leaders and state .... .44 - - - - 3.45 .7249 Doubts about religious madrasas institutions .. .52 - - - - 3.32 .8550 Hopelessness about the current situation ... 049 - - - - 3049 .6551 Many innocent people are put behind the bars .. 044 - - - - 3046 .7281 Our children arc learning inappropriate social values .. .49 - - - - 3.63 .612 Nerves of the people have been shattered .... - 047 - - - 3.18 .9216 . Increased social segregation in the society .... - .38 - - - 3.36 .8317 People arc becoming anxious for losing their loved .. - .39 - - - 3.20 .8520 Cognitive functioning of the people is deteriorating ... - .56 - - - 3.26 .78

Continued

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ow

FI F2 F3 F4 F5 I 0

""ItemNo. Statements

SA PD GI CA RS M SD

48 Increased suicidal trends in the society .... .41 3.05 .98

58 Increased sense of deprivation in the society .... ' .52 3.57 .60

60 People are apprehensive to join hands in sociaL ... ,. .57 3.30 .87

64 Complaints of physical ailment are on increase .. AO 3.31 .83 =:::>-66 Society is losing its human grounds .... Al 3.34 .83 c::67 People have become more obsessive." .... .37 3.51 .64 ~

68 People are restricted in all spheres of life ..... Al 3.27 .80 ?;j76 Death anxiety is increasing in personal. A9 3A1 .79 >-

84 Collective activities are decreasing in the society .... , .39 3.26 .83::;:>-

86 People are being victim oftcrror. ... .38 3.51 .52 ?"

88 Employees in the security agencies are giving up .... .58 - 2.84 .95 Sj91 Relationships llnd social gatherings have badly ...... .45 2.81 .96 ~

59 Financial resources of the country are getting ...... A7 3.65 .64 ?;j61 There is a general sense of insecurity prevailing .. .49 3.55 .64 >-

?"62 People want to be more aw<Ueof the situation in ... .45 3.64 .65 en

63 Apprehension about administrative affairs has ... A8 3.73 .52 f;;71 Government officials and Political leaders are ..... .59 3.71 .64 gj77 Media needs some ethical codes ... .49 3A5 .69 p,>

78 Government in itself is confused ... .39 3.54 .86 ~

79 Security measures have been forces in all institution. Al 3.55 .72S;>-

87 Mental and psychological problems in the society ... .38 3.62 .60 en

89 Security measures are creating hindrances for ...... .37 3.50 .70

4 Aggression in the society is OJ1 increase .. .39 3.34 .79

5 Society is suffering from uncertainty .... A7 3.65 .60

6 Rigidity in the society is increasing A8 3.34 .72

Continued

"

Fl F2 F3 F4 F5ItemNo. Statements SA PD GI CA RS M SD

Items (Items (Items (Items (Items. =17) =19) =13) = 9) = 6)

7 Decision power of the people has adversely been .... - - - .49 - 3.31 .708 Our future generation is at risk ........ - - - .63 - 3.57 .7011 Academic activities in the institutions have been .... - - - .54 - 3.57 .6512 People are being deprived of their loved ones ........ - - - .56 - 3.66 .6413 The reputation of Islam at global level has .. ""'. - - - .52 - 3.68 .6515 Collective ego of the society is getting hurt .... - - - .54 - 3.69 .6157 People have developed the passion to eliminate ... - - - - .58 3.30 .9283 Patriotism has been increased among police. - - - - .62 3.04 .9890 People have become more patriotic ..... - - - - .66 2.97 .9692 People's attitude towards security agencies ..... - - - - .64 2.61 .0793 People are actively participating in social welfare .. - - - - .71 2.73 .9494 People have become more caring and concerned ..... - - - - .57 2.92 .91Eigen Value: 13.63 3.52 2.94 2.72 2.32% Variance 9.05 8.59 6.46 5.86 4A7Cum. % 9.05 17.6 24.1 29.9 34.4

Affairs. PD = Psychosocial Distress, Gl = Governance Issues, CA = Civic Affairs, RS = Resilience*Urdu version is available with corresponding author

Ic:ens::~

~en

~~

FI F2 F3 F4 F5Item No. Statements SA PD GJ CA RS M SD

Items (Items (Items (Items (Items=17) =19) =13) = 9) =6)

7 Decision power of the people has adversely been ... - - - .49 - 3.31 .708 Our future generation is at risk ........ - - - .63 - 3.57 .7011 Academic activities in the institutions have been .... - - - .54 - 3.57 .6512 People are being deprived of their loved ones ....... - - - .56 - 3.66 .6413 The reputation of Islam at global level has ...... - - - .52 - 3.68 .6515 Collective ego of the society is getting hlHt .. _, - - - .54 - 3.69 .6157 People have developed the passion to eliminate .... - - - - .58 3.30 .9283 Patriotism has been increased among police ... - - - - .62 3.04 .9890 People have become morc patriotic ..... - - - - .66 2.97 .96-92 People's attitude towards security agencies ... ". - - - - .64 2.61 .0793 People arc actively participating in social welfare ... - - - - .71 2.73 .9494 People have become morc caring and concerned ..... - - - - .57 2.92 .91Eigen Value; 13.63 3.52 2.94 2.72 2.32% Variance 9.05 8.59 6.46 5.86 4.47Cum. % 9.05 17.6 24.1 29.9 34.4

Note: SA = State Affairs. PD = Psycho,wcial Distress, Gl::;; Govemana Issues, CA::;; Civic Affairs. RS::;; Resilience"'Urdu versinn is available with correspnllding author

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Table 3Correlation Matrix of the Five Sabseales and Total Score of Terrorism ImpactSeale (N = 280)

However, the cut-off scores for TISwere determined based on theperccntile analysis of thc scale scores;the frequency distribution of thescores indicated that almost 49.6% ofrespondents obtained a score of 205and 74.6% gained a score of 232 sothese were taken as the lower andupper ranges for measuring impactof terrorism. The percentil\,

analysis for 25th, 50th and 75'hquartiles indicated a score of 206 atthe 25th percentile, 221 and 233 at50th and 75th percentiles respectively(Table 6).Therefore the score of below-206 wastaken as indicative. of mild impact ofterrorism; 207-221 could be taken asindicators of moderate and 222-256for high impact of terrorism.

Table 5Means and Sll1ndard Deviations for Participant Groups and Total Samples forTIS Scores

Groups M(SD) ,\n

Students 100 209.Q2 (24.68) 2.4~

General Public 100 218.22 (18.39) 1.8'

Security Forces 30 221.73 (9.14) 1.6~

Survivors 50 230.04 (13.94) 1.9~

Total Sample 280 217.45 (20.84) 1.2'

Table 6Quartilesfor Terrorism Impact Subseales (N = 280)

Subscales 25'" % 50Lh % 75Lh %

State Affairs , 55 60 64

Psychosocial Distress 57.25 64 69

Governance Issues 45 48 50

Civic Affairs 30 33 34

Resilience 15 18 20

Total TIS 206 221 233

Subscales 2 3 4 5 6

I. SA .68** .55** .49** .06 .85**

2. I'D .59** .54** .09 .89**

3. GI .40* .22* .76**

4.CA .02 .66**

5. RS .31*6. TIS

*p < .01. **p < .001.Note: SA = State Affairs, PD = Psychosocial Distress, GT = Governance Issues, CA = CivicAffairs, RS = Resilience

Table 4Reliability Analysis and Descriptive Statistics for TIS (N = 280)

Subscales Items Range Mdn M 3D "State Affairs 17 68 60 58.7 7.18 ,87

Psychosocial Distress 19 76 64 62.6 8,71 .87

Governance Issues 13 52 48 46.9 4.55 .78

Civic Affairs 9 36 33 31.8 3.59 .76

Resilience 6 24 18 17.6 4.05 .79

Total TIS 64 256 221 217.4 20.8 .93

Mean score of the cun'ent samplefell in the range of moderate impactoverall which was different for fourgroups; for students it was 209.02(24.68), general public 218.22(18.396), security services 221.73(9.14) and for survivors' group it was230.04 (13,94) (Figure I; Table 5).

Figure l shows significant differe-nce for four participant groups fortotal score on Terrorism Impact Scale.

Figure 2 indicates differences amOlthe four participant groups for tlsubscales of TIS.

Gender-wise cut off scores wenot computed for the scale :differences were non-significarFigure 3 indicates no gender differe-nce apparently except for a sligdifference between men and wom(for one subscale of Civic Affairs.

The data were further subjected t


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sfs5

Table 5Means and Standard DeFlations for Participant Groups and Total Samples forTIS Scores

Groups M(SD) SEn

Students 100 209.02 (24.68) 2.480

General Public 100 218.22 (18.39) 1.840

Security Forces 30 221.73 (9.14) 1.670

Survivors 50 230.04 (13.94) 1.972

Total Sample 280 217.45 (20.84) 1.248

Table 6Quartilesfor Terror;sm Impact Subseales (N = 280)

Subscales 251h % 50lh % 751h %

State Affairs S5 60 64

Psychosocial Distress 57.25 64 69

Governance Issues 4S 48 50

Civic Affairs 30 33 34

Resilience 15 18 20

Total TIS 206 221 233

Mean score of the current samplefell in the range of moderate impactoverall which was different for fourgroups; for students it was 209.02(24.68), general public 218.22(18.396), security services 221.73(9.14) and for survivors' group it was230.04 (13.94) (Figure I; Table S).

Figure I shows significant differe-nce for four partic'ipant groups forIOtal score on Terrorism Impact Scale.

Figure 2 indicates differences amongthe four participant groups for thesubscales of TIS.

Gender-wise cut off scores werenot computed for the scale asdifferences were non-significant.Figure 3 indicates no gender differe-nce apparently except for a slightdifference between men and womenfor one subscale of Civic Affairs.

The data were further subjected to


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Figure 3Gender Differellces for TIS Subscales

Figure 2Mean Scores of Participant Groups all TIS Subscales80170 ~

30

20

60

50v,

"h 400

"V)"~" 30::E

20

10

0

•

1+ TIS Talal I

Security Forces

•

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3. J 8, I' < .05, whereas~ no significantdifference was found for sub-scale ofCivic Affairs, F (3, 271) = 1.84, I' =ns. Impact of terrorism was alsoinvestigated for among men andwomen but no significant genderdifferences were found for total TISscore and four sub-scales, F (3, 271) =1.15, P = ns. Interactions of partici-pant groups and gender were also nonsignificant except for the StateAffairs, F (3, 271) = 2.96, I' < .05.State Affairs subscale was alsoseparately treated for genderdifferences by breaking the analysisdown to t.test and the result washigWy significant, t (278) = 2.58, I'< .0 I, showing that women scored"higher (M = 60.11, SD = 5.86) onState Affairs as compared to men (M= 57.83, SD = 7.74). LSD Post-Hocanalysis indicated specific differences

•

StudentsG. Public195 +------

Multivariate Analysis of Variance todetermine the significance of thesedifferences among different particip-ant groups and gender for overallTerrorism Impact Scale scores and itssub-scales (Table 7). There weresignificant differences amongparticipant groups for overall TISscores, F (3, 271) = 5.67, I' < .01.Participants' perception about StateAffair was also significantly different,'F (3, 271) = 4.74, 1'< .01. Diversitywas also found out for psycho-socialdistress, showing highly significantdifferences among participants, F (3,271) = 4.24, I' < .01. Impact ofterrorism in terms of GovernanceIssues, again showed significantdifference for sample, F (3, 271) =6.18, I' < .0 I. Palticipants also showedsignificant differences for theexperience of Resilience, F (3, 271) =

225

230

Figure JMean Scores of Participant Groups for Total TIS Scores235

205

200

220~8215(fJc::l210::;

GroupsTIS Subseales


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Figure 2Mean Scores of Participant Groups on TIS Subseales

80 170 i'" j '"'_~c-50 I

Figure 3Gender Differences for TIS Subseales

50

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110 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFfIKHAR, SAEED & II.YAS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE

Table 7MANOVA of Terrorism Impact Scale Scaresior4 Participant Groups

SourceDependent SS df MS FVariables

Participant Groups State Affairs 645,32 3 215.11 4,74*'

Psychosocial 808.97 3 269.65 4.25**Distress

Governance 329.28 3 109.76 6.18**Issues I

Resilience 152.40 3 50.80 3.18'

Total TIS 6153,16 3 2051.05 5.67 **

Groups x Gender Stale Affajrs 402.65 3 134,21 2,96*

Error State Affairs 12289.29 271 45.34

Psychosocial 17216.70 271 63,53Distress

Governance 4809.01 271 17,74Issues

Resilience 4331.61 271 15.98

Total TIS 98007.l2 271 361.65

*p < ,05, **p < Ot.Note: All ltoll-si!?llijicalff resulls are excluded.

among participant groups (Table 8).Impact of terrorism was worst for

the groups of terrorism attacksurvivors and securily forces for totalscore of the scale as compared tolaypersons and students. Overall,students' group appeared to be theleast affected group of all theparticipants on the total TIS score andthe subscales, whereas survivors andsecurity forces were almost equallyinfluenced by terrorism.

Discussion

The main objective of the currentstudy was to develop an indigenous

measure to assess the impact of thecurrent prevailing negative scenario inPakistan on its people. Many westernstudies have been carried out to lookinto the impact of terrorist attacks andsuicidal bombing, especially after 9/11and most of them included survivorsof terrorist attacks. Some of theresearches have been done in Israeland Palestine. Now, many of theAsian countries have become thevictims of terrorist attacks andPakistan amongst them is on the hitlist due to its strategic and geographicvalue, certain foreign affairs policies,especially, being a US ally in the waragainst terror. Therefore the aim was

Table 8Pair-wise Comparisons among Participant Groups Using LSD Post hoc for TISand its Subseales '. .

Pairs M.diff SE pTIS Total

1&2 -9.20 2.70 .0011&3 -12.71 3.96 .0011&4 -21.02 3.30 .0012&4 -11.82 3.29 .001

Sate Affairs1&2 -2.24 .95 ,051&4 -4,89 1.17 ,0012&4 -2.56 1.17 .053&4 -4.31 1.56 .01

Psychosocial Distress1&2 -2.43 1.13 .051&3 -7.47 1.66 .0011&4 -8,27 1.38 .0012&3 -5.05 1.67 .012&4 -5.84 1.38 .001

Governance Issues1&2 -2.15 60 .0011&3 -4.44 .88 .011&4 -3.65 .73 .0012&3 -2,29 .88 .012&4 -1.50 .73 .05

Civic Affairs1&4 -2.51 .60 ,00]2&4 -1.84 .60 .013&4 -2.99 .80 .001

Resilience1&2 -1.71 .57 .011&4 -1.70 .69 .01

Note: / - students. 2 - general public, 3 = security/orees. 4 = survivorsAll }lO'H'ignijicanl results are excluded.

MALIK, KHAWAR, TFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE112

to develop a valid and reliable self-report measure to identify the impactof terrorism on the people of Pakistanin this specific socia-cultural context.Tn the item generation phase,participants from diverse fields wererecruited to have broader pool ofitems. Finally for empirical evaluationof the items' pool, four adult groupswere drawn with ages 18 years an~above. Basic purpose of thiscategorization of participant groupsinto students, general public, securityforces personnel and survivors was toinvestigate the nature of the effects ofterrorism on those who havewitnessed or experienced such eventseither directly or through media andmight be at risk in future. Followingthe lengthy scale developmentprocedure, 64 items were retainedwhich included 58 items showingadverse impacts of terrorism and only6 items depicting positive after effectsin terms of resilience. Empiricallygenerated constructs for impact ofterrorism represented different aspectsof life being affected by the wave ofterrorist attacks, both at individuallevel and on society at large. As theitems for TIS were generated purelyon the basis of public and expertopinion, it embodied people's graveconcern about this horrifying act of.brutality against humanity in the nameof religion.

The results of the principalcomponent analysis with varimaxrotation followed by item analysisrevealed five distinct factors coveringthe relevant constructs expressingdifferent aspects regarding the impactsof terrorism as recommended byNunnally (1978). Items showing item-total correlation r ::: .20 were retained

for the final version of the scale.Factor ] clustered items with highloadings on the items reflectingsimilar concerns about the issuesfaced by thc country as a state. Itemsincluded in this factor named as StateAffairs depicted people's concernabout the worldwide negativeinterpretation of their religion,country's standing and position in theworld, inferiority complex as a nationdue to stigma of being terrorists,development of negative attitudeswithin society. This factor showedhigh reliability and internalconsistency.

The second factor clustered itemsshowing a vivid picture of mentalwear and tear and social sufferings ofpeople, increasing intolerance,irritability, uncertainty of the situat-ion, increasing hopelessness, sleepproblems, apprehension for beingattacked by a suicide bomber alongwith people's concern for increasingthreats for their social life anddisturbances in their daily routinework. It was therefore named asPsychosocial Distress. These socialand psychological effects had beendiscussed by many rc£earchers whofound terrorism to be significantlyrelated to PTSD and depressivesymptoms. PTSD can lead todefensive coping ultimately (Hobfollet aI., 2006) as well as, in terms ofincapacitating psychological function-ning (Somer, Tamir, Maguen, & Litz,2005). Nayab and Kamal (2010) hadfound in a study in Pakistani contextthat the people witnessing horrifyingten'orist attacks experienced moredeath anxiety and stress.

Third factor represented itemsrelated to the impact of terrorism on

.overall administrative mismanage-ment at government. level. ItemsClustered here were related to the roleand 'image of politicians, misuse ofr~source and power, role of mediasensation and need for ethicalstandards, confusing state affairs andP.2licies related to foreign affairs.People were concerned about the~astage of the economic resources top?ovide security to the leaders and tot~ke other security measures. Reasont6:, this perception might be theinability of the security agencies tostop terrorist attacks despite securitya!'rangements which end up asunproductive exercises and result inC1estabilization of the socia-economicsystem in thc society; hence this factorwas named as Governancc Issucs.,. Ninc itcms loaded high on factor 4which shared thematic similarities forcivic affairs. These items were relatedto people's concern about socialnloral and cmotional consequences o~the society at large such as increasingindecisiveness, inflexible attitudes,t"reats for academic activities, future'insccurity, loss of loved ones, lack of:self reliance as a civil institution,identity as a nation etc. It was<therefore labeled as Civic Affairs.

Factor 5 which was finally labeled'as Resiliencc clustered 6 items whichrepresented few positive outcomes ofthe widespread negative situation in,the country. Many items which loadedhigh on certain factors were excluded,due to lower reliability coefficients initem analysis except three itemsincluded in Resilience subscale which,l~aded high on Factor 5, e.g" items~3, 90 and 92. Item analysis didn'ts.how high correlation cocfficients for,some of these items. Although itcms

showing item-total correlation r ::: .2ewere retained for the final TIS bulthere is evidcncc that in certain caselitems with slightly low reliabiIities r"~ .20 can be rctained with appropriat~rationale (Gray & Wilson, 2006). Th~purpose of retaining these items wallogioal, i.e., to measure the positiv~outcomes of a negative situation,Moreover, together these itemsreflectcd high rcliability of .80 andexclusion of these items did not seemto affect the overall internalconsistency of the scale. These itemsreflectcd themes such as people'ssympathetic attitude towards theilbrothers and sisters as a nation,positive attitude towards securitvforces and agencies, helping behavio;,patriotism among public, and 'I

determination to fight againstterrorism. Many researches carried oulin thc disaster situations provideevidence for this construct 01rcsiliencc; studies after earthquake 01September 2005 in Pakistan had alsarevealed the importance of resilienceof Pakistani people (e.g., Suhail et aI.,2009). Bonanno, Galea, Bucciarelliand Vlahov (2006) also posed in theirstudy carried out 6 months followingthc 9-11 terrorist attacks in New Yorkthat frcqucncy of resilience, defined a~absence of PTSD, was surprisinglyhigh cvcn among people who were inthe World Tradc Centcr or in thosewho werc physically wounded in theattack (53.50/0 and 32.8%, respecti-vely). In the situations whereterrorism bccomes customary, acollective habituation is commonamong people (Vazquez, Perez-Sales, ,Hervas, 2005).Itcm-total correlation and internal

consistency reliability measure of the


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overall administrative mismanage-ment at government level. Itemsclustered here were related to the roleand image of politicians, misuse ofresource and power, role of mediasensation and need for ethicalstandards, confusing state affairs andpolicies related to foreign affairs.People were concerned about thewastage of the economic resources toprovide security to the leaders and Itotake other security measures. Reasonto this perception might be theinability of the security agencies tostop terrorist attacks despite securityarrangements which end up asunproductive exercises and result indestabilization of the socia-economicsystem in the society; hence this factorwas named as Governance Issues.

Nine items loaded high on factor 4which shared thematic similarities forcivic affairs. These items were relatedto people's concern about social,moral and emotional consequences onthe society at large such as increasingindecisiveness, inflexible attitudes,threats for academic activities, futureinsecurity, loss of loved ones, lack ofself reliance as a civil institution,identity as a nation etc. It wastherefore labeled as Civic Affairs.

Factor 5 which was finally labeledas Resilience clustered 6 items whichrepresented few positive outcomes of

. the widespread negative situation inthe country. Many items which loadedhigh on certain factors were excludeddue to lower reliability coefficients initem. analysis except three itemsincluded in Resilience subscale whichloaded high on Factor 5, e.g., items83, 90 and 92. Item analysis didn'tshow high correlation coefficients forsome of these items. Although items

showing item-total correlation r 2: .20were' retained for the final TIS butthere is evidence that in certain casesitems with slightly low reliabilities r =:s .20 can be retained with appropriaterationale (Gray & Wilson, 2006). Thepurpose of retaining these items was10giGaI, i.e., to measnre the positiveoutcomes of a negative situation.Moreover, together these itemsreflected high reliability of .80 andexclusion of these items did not seemto affect the overall internalconsistency of the scale. These itemsreflected themes such as people'ssympathetic attitude towards theirbrothers and sisters as a nation,positive attitude towards securityforces and agencies, helping behavior,patriotism among public, and adetermination to fight againstterrorism. Many researches carried outin the disaster situations provideevidence for this construct ofresilience; studies after earthquake ofSeptember 2005 in Pakistan had alsorevealed the importance of resilienceof Pakistani people (e.g., Suhail et aI.,2009). Bonanno, Galea, Bucciarelliand Vlahov (2006) also posed in theirstudy carried out 6 months followingthe 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York,that frequency of resilience, defined asabsence of PTSD, was surprisinglyhigh even among people who were inthe World Trade Center or in thosewho were physically wounded in theattack (53.5% and 32.8%, respecti-vely). In the situations whereterrorism becomes customary, acollective habituation is commonamong people (Vazquez, Perez-Sales,Hervas, 2005).

Item-total correlation and internalconsistency reliability measure of the

114 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS TERRORISM IMPACT SCALE II

/

scale were highly significant. Someresearchers, e,g., Cronbach and Meehl(1955) have suggeste.d that internalconsistency measures may be taken asan evidence of validity and if theunderlying theory of attitude beingmeasured suggests high item inter-correlations, tbe measure of internalconsistency may be intcrpreted as anevidence of construct validity (Wright& Shaw, 1967). The inter-correlations Iamong the sub-scales were highlysignificant,

The correlation matrix depictedhighly significant inter-correlationsfor all sub-scales/factors with eachother cxcept Resilience which wasonly correlated with factor 3 depictingGovernance Issues. The reason mightbc that this factor did not represent thenegative impact of terrorism as allother four factors did; rather, it wasdepicting some positive outcome ofthe situation. However, resilience wassignificantly correlated with the totalTIS score. It is important to note thatsubscale of Resilience was not foundto be significantly correlated with therest of the subscales except forGovernance Issues. There wassignificanl positive associationbetween the two which might beexplained again in psychologicalcontext that perhaps beingdisappointed from others sources suchas government and administrationcontributes to hardincss and helps inbecoming self-reliant and determined,. Gender differences were not

found significant for the TIS and itssubscales depicting similar genderperception of the prevailing situationin the society. However, MultivariateAnalysis of Variance revealedsignificant differences among

participant groups, not -only for totalTIS but for all the subscales exceptCivic Affairs. Gender, when treatedseparately with (-test showedsignificant differences for StateAffairs, as women tended to perceivethe situation more adverse ascompared to men. Post-Hoc resultsindicated that students were leastaffected group on almost all thesubscales and on overall TIS score.The reason could be the lack of senseof responsibility in young age, whichis peculiar to our society as our youthis dependent on their parents tillcompletion of their studies so theymight be less worried about the long-term consequences of terrorism.Moreover, they have a lot of academicand co-curricular activities to indulgein as compared to general public whoare responsible for looking after theirfamilies and managing resources forthem, thus more influenced byterrorist attacks. Survivors andofficials of security forces were themost adversely affected group asbeing at risk directly and witnessingterrorist attacks frequently; yet aninteresting finding was that they wereequally resilient. '

The results also indicated aserious concern of people aboutattitudes and values. Elderly groupswere more concerned with the currentscenario and situation after terroristattacks and equally more hopefulabout the future as compared to thestudents .

There are certain strengths of thestudy which should be highlightedhere; one is the inclusion of peoplefrom diversified walks of life in thedevelopment of the scale from itemgeneration till its empirical evaluation.

Moreover, for determining itsreliability and validity, people at highand low risks of terrorist attacks wereincluded in the sample. The seale maybe taken as the first step towardsdeveloping an indigenous self-reportmeasure to assess impacts of terrorismspecifically in Pakistani socia-culturaland economic context. Finally, TISwith 64 items based on five factorsolution showed significant internalconsistency (Cronbach's ct = .93) andconstruct validity; the emergedfaetors/subscales/eomponents werenamed as State Affairs (17 items),Psychosocial Distress (19 items),Governance Issues (13 items), CivicAffairs (9 items) and Resilience (6items). The study also indicatedsignificant differences amongparticipant groups regarding the'impact of terrorist attacks. Survivorsand oftlcials from'seeurity forces werefound to, be the most adverselyaffected by current wave of terrorism.Psychological problems should beaddressed with the help of appropriateinlervention plans especially for' thisgroup which could help in raisingtheir morale and reduce death anxiety;however the psychological concernsof other than these groups also need tobe addressed in future research.

Limitations & Suggestions

AIthough different representativegroups were included, data for thecurrent study were mainly drawn fromonly one city in Punjab, Lahore, thatmight limit its generalizability. Thisinitial attempt to develop a self- reportmeasure for the assessment of theimpact of the unending wave ofterrorist attacks in Pakistan needsadditional studies to replicate its

psychometric characteristics, especialHy, the factorial stmeture and the cuoff scores with much larger samplincluding different groups drawn frondifferent ciiies throughout Pakistanwhich is the future plan for thiresearch project. The group 0adolescents needs to be included ilthe sample as well. This would add tlthe sensitivity of the measure tlidentify the intensity of the adverslimpacts of terrorism in the largecontext.

Implications

This study was designed to fulfilthe need to have a self-report measurein order to assess the psychological a:well as socio-cultural effects of theever increasing wave of terrorism orthe mental health and sociafunctioning of the people of PakistanTerrorism Impact Scale (TIS) with 6'items based on five categories mighbe taken as a measure to asses~people's perception about the advemimpact on the ongoing state affairsgovernance issues, civic affairs a~well as threat to their mental health ifterms of psychosocial distress alon~with positive effect in terms 01resilience. The findings of the studyindicated significant differencesacross participant groups regardingthe impacts of terrorist attacks,Survivors, eye witnesses andpersonnel from security forces werefound to be most adversely affected.Mental health of people' appears to beat risk due to" overall increasinginsecurity and threat in the socialenvironment. Psychological problemsof people need to be addressed whi Ielaunching some appropriate trauma

. ,


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Moreover, for determining itsreliability and validity, people at highand low risks of terrorist attacks wercincluded in the sample. The scale maybe taken as the first step towardsdeveloping an indigenous self-reportmeasure to assess impacts of terrorismspecifically in Pakistani socia-culturaland economic context. Finally, TISwith 64 items based on five factorsolution showed significant interdalconsistency (Cronbach's ct = .93) andconstruct validity; the emergedfactors/subscales/components werenamed as State Affairs (17 items),Psychosocial Distress (19 items),Governance Issues (13 items), CivicAffairs (9 items) and Resilience (6items). The study also indicatedsignificant differences among.participant groups regarding theimpact of terrorist attacks. Survivorsand officials from security forces werefound to be the most adverselyaffected by current wave of terrorism.Psychological problems should beaddressed with the help of appropriateintervention plans especially for thisgroup which could help in raisingtheir morale and reduce death anxiety;hDwever the psychDlogical CDncernsDfDther than these groups also need tDbe addressed in future research.

Limitations & Suggestions

Although different representativegroups were included, data fDr thecurrent study were mainly drawn fromonly Dne city in Punjab, Lahore, thatmight limit its generalizability. Thisinitial attempt to develop a self- repDrtmeasure fDr the assessment of theimpact Df the unending wave ofterrorist attacks in Pakistan needsadditiDnal studies to replicate its

psychDmetric characteristics, especial-lly, the factorial structure and the cutoff SCDres with much larger sampleincluding different groups drawn frDmdifferent cities throughDut Pakistan,which is the future .plan fDr thisresearch project. The group ofadDlescents needs tD be. included inthe sample as well. This WDuid add tothe sensitivity Df the measure tDidentify the intensity of the adverseimpacts of terrorism in the largercontext.

Implications

This study was designed to fulfillthe need tD have a self-repDrt measurein order to assess the psychDlogical aswell as socia-cultural effects of theever increasing wave of terrorism onthe mental health and socialfunctiDning of the peDple Df Pakistan.TerrDrism Impact Scale (TIS) with 64items based on five categDries mightbe taken as a measure to assesspeople's perception abDut the adverseimpact on the Dngoing state affairs,governance issues, civic affairs aswell as threat to their mental health interms of psychosDcial distress alDngwith positive effect in terms ofresilience. The findings Df the studyindicated significant differencesacross participant groups regardingthe impacts Df terrorist attacks.Survivors, eye witnesses andpersonnel from security forces werefDund tD be mDst adversely affected.Mental health of peDple appears to beat risk due tD' overall increasinginsecurity and threat in the sDcialenvironment. PsychDlogical problemsDf peDple need to be addressed whilelaunching SDme appropriate trauma

116 MALIK, KHAWAR, IFTIKHAR, SAEED & ILY AS TERRORJSM IMPACT SCALE I

counseling strategies and psychoeducational programs for thesurvivors, security forces personneland public at large.

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tion,and

saultI-Up.881-

trlsmThe., 13,

per-ionalsm-

006).ep: a(6thn.actorrenee

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11th)eace

010).and

rafficterrordings~eon; and

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'i

http://www.oup.com/us/catalo

MALIK, KHAWAR, IFrIKHAR, SAEED & ILYAS

Attempts to coin an objectivedefinition of terrorism has beelfurther complicated due to negativeconnotations associated with the wore'ten-orism' (Rapport, 1977; Hoffman,1988). By operating in civilianclothes, targeting non-combatants andtaking hostages, the terrorist violateswar laws codified in the Genev2Conventions by the United Nations,Therefore, anyone using such tacticsis considered a terrorist (UN Office onDrugs and Crime, 2010),

Terrorism can be defined as anintended and planned use, or threat ofuse of violence for attaining goals thatare of ideological, political orreligious nature (Keet, 2002). In order

Rukhsana Kausar and Tahera AnwarDepartment of Applied Psychology

University of the Punj~b,Lahore. Pakistan

The present study examined perceived stress, stress appraisal, and copings[rategies used in relation to exposure to television coverage of terroristincident'). It was hypothesized that there is relationship between perceivedstress, stress appraisal, coping strategies and television exposure of terrorism.Ninety eight students comprised the sample and were selected from differentdepartments of Faculty of Life Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore.Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), StressAppraisal Measure (Peacock & Wong, J990), and Coping StrategyQuestionnaire (Kausar & Munir, 2004) were used for assessment. There wasrelationship between perceived stress, stress appraisal and coping strategies.Stress appraisal predicted the typc of coping strategies used by the participants.Significant gender differences were found in perceived stress, stress appraisaland coping .•strategics. Female participant..•perceived more stress than malestudents. Male participants were watching terrorism on TV significantly morethan female participants. Male participants were found to be using significantlymore active-practical coping than female participants who used significantlymore religious focused coping strategies.

PERCEIVED STRESS, STRESS APPRAISAL AND,COPING STRATEGIES USED IN RELATION TO

TELEVISION COVERAGE OF TERRORISTINCIDENTS

F{ey»'ords: perceived stress, stress appraisal, coping strategies, tcrrorism

Defining 'terrorism' is bothdifficult and complex and it isimportant to understand this term inorder to conduct research on it. Mediacoverage has complicated the situatiOnby offering various terms to describeterrorism; as the work offundamentalists, commandos,guerillas, Jihadis and extremists.

_.. Prof. Dr. Rukh:-:anaKausar, and Tahera:4,nwar, MSc Studenl, Dcpartment of Applied\sychology, University of lhe Punjab, Lahore-54000, Pakistan~: Correspondence concerning lhis article'~~ouldbe addressed to Prof. Dr. RukhsannK..~usar, Chairperson, Department of Applied~sychology, University of lhe Punjab, Lahore~4000,Pakistan.Email: [email protected]

growth: An individual andcommunity perspective. RetrievedJune, 23, 2009, fromhttp://www.ucm.es/info/psisalud/carmeloIPUBLICACIONES_pdfl2008PTG% 20and %20terrorism%20_Final %20version_. pdf

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Zalman, A. (201Oa). US department ofdefense; A d~finition ofterrorism. Retrieved 20 June,2009,fromhttp://terrorism.about.com/od/whatisterroris IlDefineTerrorism_4.htm

Zalman, A. (2010b). Terrorismtime line: Pakistan and theglobal war on terror. Retrieved23 June, 2010 fromhttp://terroris m.about. com/od/ globalwaronterror/tp/Pakistan---Terror- War- Timeline.htm

Received June 2010Revision received December 2010

testing of the perceptions ofterrorism questionnaire short-form (PTQ-SF). New SchoolPsychology Bulletin, 4, 7-37.

Somer, E., Tamir, E., Maguen, S., &Litz, B. T. (2005). Brief cognitivebehavioral phone-basedintervention targeting anxiety aboutthe threat of an attack: A pilotstudy. Behaviour Research 1ndTherapy, 43. 669-679.

South Asia Terrorism Portal. (2010).Retrieved 6th September, 2010,fromhttp://www .satp.org/satporgtp/cou-ntries/paki stan/index. htm

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Suhail, K., Malik, F., Ahm~d, 1.,Hasan, S. S., Sarwar, ";1"., &Tanveer, S. (2009). Psychologicalhealth of earthquake survivors inPakistan: Implications forcounseling. Psychology andDeveloping Societies. 2/ (2), 183-207.

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Vazquez, C., Perez-Sales, P., &Hervas, G. (2005). Positive effectsof terrorism and posttraumatic

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http://terrorism.about.com/od/w

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