A Changed America? The Effects of September 11th on Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol Consumption* HANNAH K. KNUDSEN PAUL M. ROMAN J. AARON JOHNSON LORI J. DUCHARME University of Georgia Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2005, Vol 46 (September): 260–273 In the weeks following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, social com- mentators argued that America had profoundly “changed.” In light of these argu- ments and the literature on disasters, we examine the immediate and longer-term mental health consequences of September 11th using a national sample of full- time American workers. We model the effects of temporal proximity to the attacks on depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption, while controlling for demo- graphic characteristics. Our data revealed a significant increase in the number of depressive symptoms reported during the 4 weeks after the attacks. In the sub- sequent weeks, levels of depressive symptoms returned to pre-September 11th levels. Contrary to expectations, there was some indication of decreased alcohol consumption after September 11th, although these effects were modest. These analyses provide little support for popular assertions that September 11th resulted in lasting and measurable impacts on Americans’ well-being. 260 In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, sociologists have debated the meaning and implications of the attacks for American society. The televised images of the two air- planes hitting the World Trade Center and its later collapse, the plumes of smoke rising from the Pentagon, and the airplane crash site in Pennsylvania brought the day’s events into homes across the nation (Schuster et al. 2001). Unlike most newsworthy events where the media reports the details after the fact, September 11th was a tragedy that unfolded in “real-time” on live television (Ahern et al. 2002). Within hours, these acts of terrorism were characterized as having a scope beyond the direct victims who died or were injured. The events were quickly constructed by the news media as an attack on America in general (Ollove 2001; Schuster et al. 2001). In the weeks that followed, com- mentators from a variety of sources seemed to agree that, since the tragedy of September 11th, America had “changed” (Gibbs 2001; Ollove 2001; Sanders 2001; The Economist 2001). For example, Kelly (2001) wrote in U.S. News and World Report that since September 11th, “we are not the people we used to be” (p. 54). In terms of economic, political, and social consequences, scholars will be debating and dis- cussing the impact of the September 11th events for years to come. One particular issue that has yet to be addressed is the extent to which the general population’s reaction can be con- ceptualized as one of “communal bereavement” (Catalano and Hartig 2001). We argue that * The authors acknowledge research support from research grant R01-DA-13110 from the National Insti- tute on Drug Abuse and research grants T32-AA- 07473 and R01-AA-10130 from the National Insti- tute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Chicago, Illinois. Address correspondence to Hannah K. Knudsen, Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery, University of Georgia, 101 Barrow Hall, Athens, GA 30602-2401 (email: hknudsen@uga.edu).