The impact of terrorism on children and adolescents: terror in the skies, terror on television.

Terrorist attacks and their aftermath have had a powerful impact on children and their families. Media and television exposure of terrorist events throughout the world has increased during the past few years. There is increasing concern about the effects of this exposure on children who witness these violent images. To develop a proactive and strategic response to reactions of fear, clinicians, educators, and policy makers must understand the psychologic effects of media coverage of terrorism on children. Previous research has focused on media coverage of criminal violence and war. Recent studies have examined the effect of remote exposure of terrorist attacks and have shown a significant clinical impact on children and families.