Living under threat: psychosocial effects on victims of terrorism

ABSTRACT

The fact of being under terrorist threats, such as death threats or intimidations, has psychosocial effects and impacts on victim’s psychosocial functioning. However, little attention has been paid to the study of threatened people through an evidence-based research. This study analyses quantitatively the experience of threatened people within a context of terrorism. Specifically, we want to gain insight into victims’ perceptions of their threatening situation, through participants who were under threat by the Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) (Basque Homeland and Freedom) terrorist group in the Basque Country, Spain. Through a cross-sectional study and Principal component analysis, 87 victims of the ETA terrorist group in the Basque Country were surveyed, during the period of violence. The findings suggested six main psychosocial effects on threatened individuals, comprising issues such as (1) Thought processes and risk perception; (2) Emotional reactions; (3) Circles of vulnerability; (4) Suspicion/distrust; (5) Social interactions and (6) Safety and freedom of movement. In addition, victim’s perception of control was negatively related to the psychosocial effects, in factors 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The article discusses and shows implications of the power of threats, along with their effects, as a psychosocial coercion instrument.

KEYWORDS:

• Terrorism
• terrorist threats
• psychosocial effects
• psychosocial functioning
• victims
• ETA

Notes on contributors

Javier Martín-Peña is PhD in Psychology from the University of Barcelona. Since 2012, he is Professor within Psychology and Sociology Department, in social psychology area, at Faculty of Social Sciences and Work (Universidad de Zaragoza). He was Professor at Faculty of Psychology and Faculty of Law, at University of Barcelona. He was visiting scholar at Tilburg University (The Netherlands), at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, (City University of New York) (USA) and at Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan (Mexico). He is researcher in the group ‘Invictus Research’ (University of Barcelona) and the Study Group on ‘Risk Society’ (Universidad de Zaragoza).

Ana Andrés is PhD in Methodology for the Behavioural Sciencies and has a Bachelor in Psychology at the Universitat de Barcelona. Her academic experience has been mainly focused on the development, adaptation, and validation of measurement instruments within Psychology area. She has broad experience in teaching methodology at Universitat de Barcelona, and Universitat Ramon Llull. Her research experience is also related to methodology, applied to Health Sciences. In this regard, she has been Affiliate Academic at the University College London. She is currently working as support research specialist at the National Institute of Physical Education (INEFC) at Barcelona.

Pedro J. Ramos-Villagrasa is PhD in Organizational and Work Psychology from the University of Barcelona. Since 2014, he is Professor of the Psychology and Sociology Department at Faculty of Social Sciences and Work (Universidad de Zaragoza). Previously, he was Professor at Bureau Veritas Business School and Universidad de Oviedo. He was visiting scholar at ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon, Portugal). He is researcher in the Study Group on ‘Risk Society’ (Universidad de Zaragoza).

Jordi Escartín (BSc, MA, PhD) is Associate Professor in Social and Organizational Behavior at the Faculty of Psychology in the Universitat de Barcelona. With more than 50 publications, he has made several professional and research stays in different countries within South and North America, Australia and Europe. He is Associate Researcher to the Center for Leadership and Behavior in Organizations (CLBO, Frankfurt am Main, Germany), and the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C, Barcelona). As a systemic coach and organizational consultant, he actively advices companies in Spain and Latin America.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grupo Estudios Sociedad del Riesgo [grant number S45] and The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number PSI2013-41865-P].