As preschoolers, the children born to the women who were diagnosed with both PTSD and depression following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center showed evidence of higher reactivity to stimuli and more aggressive behavior than did children of terrorism-exposed mothers who did not develop these disorders. What is the likely source?
a. the ability of cortisol and other stress hormones to cross the placenta
b. learned behaviors based on the observation of PTSD symptoms in others
c. operant conditioning that rewarded such behaviors among these families
d. the inhibition of serotonin and dopamine during brain development
Question 2
The text refers to a study by Pietrzak, Goldstein, Southwick & Grant (2011) that asked participants with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to identify the worst trauma they had ever experienced. Based on this study, who is most likely to have had posttraumatic stress disorder?
a. Nathan, who watched many hours of television coverage of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center
b. Ashley, who helped care for her mother during her final stages of cancer
c. Luis, whose brother was killed in a sudden car accident
d. Jessica, who was sexually assaulted in a parking garage at night