ABSTRACT

It is impossible today to pick up a newspaper or turn on a television set without being exposed to tragic events occurring around the world, including a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, graphic images of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mudslides in California, floods and oil spills along the Gulf Coast, a series of hurricanes in Florida, genocide in Rwanda and elsewhere, and terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The list goes on and on, and with 24-hour news coverage and ready access to the Internet, our youth are exposed in graphic detail to these and other terrifying events on a daily basis.