Post-Traumatic Growth and Quality of Life Among World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees 16 Years After 9/11

Details

• Journal Article:
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Personal Author:
  Alper, Howard E. ; Feliciano, Leen ; Millien, Lucie ; Pollari, Cristina ; Locke, Sean
• Description:
  A recent study of World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees found that about one- third experienced post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and that PTG was associated with social support and social integration. However, the implications of PTG for the enrollees' overall quality of life are unknown. The present study investigated the prevalence of PTG and its association with the SF-12 physical and mental function quality of life scales in a sample of 2786 enrollees from the Registry's Health and Quality of Life Study (HQoL) who completed the first four surveys, were older than 18 on 9/11, reported English as their primary spoken language, and provided consistent self-report of 9/11 physical injury at the Registry's baseline and HQoL surveys. We employed multivariable linear regression to evaluate the association between PTG and the SF-12 physical and mental scales, controlling for sex, age, race, education, income, employment, social support, threatening events, post-9/11 mental health, number of post-9/11 physical health conditions, and drug/alcohol misuse. We found that 31% of the sample enrollees experienced PTG and that PTG exhibited a clinically and statistically significant association with the SF-12 mental scale but not the physical scale (physical: β = -0.01 (-0.61, 0.65), mental: β = 3.92 (2.89, 4.95)). Those who were physically injured during 9/11 showed larger improvements in mental function than those who were not. PTG has implications for the overall mental quality of life that should be further investigated.
• Subjects:
  Mental Health Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: 9/11; Post-traumatic Growth; World Trade Center; Quality Of Life; SF-12; Physical Function; Mental Function World Trade Center; WTC; Quality Of Life; Mental Health; Traumatic Incident Stress; Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; PTSD; Cohort Studies; Injuries; Disaster Recovery;
• Source:
  Int J Environ Res Public Health 2026 Mar; 23(3):393
• ISSN:
  1660-4601
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; New York City Region [OSHA] ; New York City (NY)
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  12 pdf pages
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071376
• Contact Point Address:
  Sean Locke, World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY 11101, USA
• Email:
  seanhlocke@gmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health/Mental Hygiene
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090430
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bec81fc574886bf0b15fa573556234bb5afca854df11df6397802f591fac0ab5adf61b104a7e26368f56a6b5f5285c74f3ab6934b9ee1d5761ff53bcc30bd221
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258851/cdc_258851_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 304.42 KB ]