The Need for Meaning Following Disaster

Abstract

Child victims of a lightning strike were interviewed to assess their attributions for the incident and to judge the degree of their emotional upset and symptomatology following the tragedy. Those who made any attribution were significantly more upset than those who made no attribution for the incident. Anecdotal data suggest that self-blaming attributions were made by those adults who, by virtue of their roles, had an opportunity to feel more responsibility for the incident; and these were the adults who seemed most emotionally upset (symptomatic) after the incident. The results have importance for the concept of "need for meaning" and for the issue of "when do people make attributions?"