Longitudinal Follow-Up of 9/11 Directly Exposed Children in their Age of Transition: Independence, Occupation and Morbidity

当世界贸易中心在2001年9月11日遭到袭击时，大约有25,000名儿童生活在 或者在下曼哈顿上学的时候，成千上万的其他孩子都在烟羽的路径上。正如我们 在20周年之际，很明显，虽然我们已经彻底研究了9/11事件暴露的那些人， 作为成年人，我们没有充分研究这些儿童，他们的发展被9/11打断。那些 儿童现在正处于成年早期到中期，许多人将终生承受9/11的影响。是的， 因此，一个明确的当务之急是彻底了解这种暴露对他们的各个方面的持久影响， 生活在现在和未来。幸运的是，我们的团队，哥伦比亚的全球精神病学流行病学小组 由NIOSH资助，招募了一个有代表性的9/11直接暴露青年样本（N=xx）， 年龄为0-17岁的9/11，以及未暴露的对照组。我们跟随他们经历了两波 深入的身体和心理评估。这一群体现在是最好的机会， 了解9/11事件对儿童时期暴露的成年人的影响的复杂性。在这项研究中，我们建议 研究童年创伤对进入和发展的核心挑战、作用和关系的影响， 除了继续研究收集重要的纵向信息外， 我们现在有这个重要的机会来比较那些暴露的与对照的，这将使我们能够检查 创伤如何影响亲密关系和家庭的形成，教育和职业巩固，道德发展， 公民参与，以及养育子女的挑战，以及创伤的历史。这是一个独特的机会， 增加了我们对他们成长过程中的心理和身体的理解。我们将 对包括肺部健康在内的心理和身体健康进行另一波深入评估 以及相关参数，我们将第二次收集和生物库血液，以便将来 炎症和表观遗传生物学检查。由于9/11直接暴露的长期后果 现在不可避免地包括这些人的COVID-19经历，因此这项研究也将评估其影响， 对这些新生的成年人造成额外的大规模创伤。总之，这项研究将鼓励新的思维方式 关于创伤，从童年到中年的发展，健康促进，甚至父母对这些人的支持 小时候受过创伤

When the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, approximately 25,000 children were living or attending school in lower Manhattan, tens of thousands of other children were in the path of the plume. As we approach the 20th anniversary, it becomes clear that while we have thoroughly studied those exposed on 9/11 as adults, we did not adequately study those children, whose development was interrupted by 9/11. Those children are now in their early to mid-adulthood and many will carry the effects of 9/11 for a lifetime. There is, thus, a clear imperative to thoroughly understand the enduring impact of that exposure on all aspects of their lives now and going forward. Fortunately, our team, The Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group at Columbia University, was funded by NIOSH to recruit a representative sample (N=xx) of 9/11 directly exposed youth who were ages 0-17 on 9/11, as well as an unexposed control group. We have followed them through two waves of in-depth physical and psychological assessments. This cohort now constitutes the best available opportunity to understand the intricacies of the impact of 9/11 on adults who were exposed as children. In this study we propose to study the impact of childhood trauma on the central challenges, roles and relationships of entering and occupying adulthood, in addition to continuing the study’s collection of vital longitudinal information. We have this important opportunity now to compare those exposed with controls, which will enable us to examine how trauma affects intimacy and family formation, education and career consolidation, moral development and civic engagement, and the challenge of parenting, with a traumatic history. It represents a unique opportunity to add to our understanding about the nature of their unfolding adulthood, psychologically and physically. We will conduct another wave of in-depth assessments of psychological and physical health including pulmonary health and related parameters, and we will collect and biobank blood for a second time to allow for the future examination of inflammatory and epigenetic biologicals. As the long-term consequences of 9/11 direct exposure now inevitably includes these individuals’ experience with COVID-19, so this study will also evaluate the effects of an additional mass trauma on these emerging adults. In sum, this study will encourage new ways of thinking about trauma, development from childhood to mid-life, health promotion, and even parenting support of those traumatized as children.