UC Irvine Study Looks at Parents' Attempts to Help Teenagers Cope After Terrorist Attacks.

Byline: University of California, Irvine

IRVINE, Calif., April 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, psychologists encouraged parents to talk with their children about the day's tragic events.

But parental attempts to help their teenagers cope were not always effective and sometimes even detrimental, according to a new study by UC Irvine psychologists.

The researchers found that teenagers whose parents encouraged them to cope with the events by sharing their emotions reported lower levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms over time. In contrast, teenagers who didn't talk to their parents -- either because the teens …