An examination of college students’ fears about terrorism and the likelihood of a terrorist attack

ABSTRACT

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a new phenomenon, fear of terrorism, was found to affect many Americans. Almost 15 years later, with few exceptions, the US homeland has enjoyed an environment free of major terrorist attacks. However, fear of terrorism remains high among Americans. Using a sample of 524 undergraduate students from a major regional university in the Midwest region of the United States, researchers distributed a survey to investigate levels of fear of terrorism and perceptions about the likelihood of a terrorist attack happening on American soil. The findings of this study indicated that respondents were moderately fearful of terrorism and moderately certain than an attack would happen in the near future. Many of the measures previously identified in the research continue to influence fears and concerns about the risk and fear of an attack.

KEYWORDS:

• Terrorism
• fear of terrorism
• fear of a terrorist attack
• college students