We therefore investigated two research questions related to 9/11 exposure and subsequent psychiatric disorders in a sample of household residents in the US, the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol Related Conditions (NESARC). Our first goal was to examine the association between direct and indirect 9/11 exposure and post-9/11 onsets of psychopathology in the internalizing and externalizing dimensions of psychiatric and substance use disorders, prior to and after accounting for childhood maltreatment and/or parental history of mental illness (depression, alcohol or drug dependence, antisocial behavior). Our second goal was to investigate whether the experience of childhood maltreatment increased risk for externalizing and internalizing disorders associated with greater exposure to 9/11 (i.e. stress sensitization).
