24th November 2003

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The extended families of the victims of Bloody Sunday are still suffering “significant psychological distress” 30 years after the event, according to new research carried out by University of Ulster psychologists.

A study of relatives of nine of the men shot dead by paratroopers in 1972 revealed that the level of psychological distress still being suffered varied according to the closeness of the relationship to the victim

Dr Mark Shevlin and Karen McGuigan, of the School of Psychology at the University of Ulster's Magee campus in Derry, researched the impact of the Bloody Sunday shootings on 72 people - 39 males and 33 females.

Their research is published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology.

They included 32 members of the immediate family of the victims; 17 children of the immediate family; 13 cousins and 10 second cousins. Only four of the immediate family members interviewed were present at the civil rights march in 1972 when the paratroopers opened fire. Nine of the families of the 13 victims took part in the study.

The researchers reported that members of the immediate families of the victims displayed the worst symptoms of distress, followed by children, cousins and second cousins. In essence, 30 years after the event, the participants - with the exception of the second cousins - still display symptoms of psychological distress similar to those shown by people who have been directly subjected to physical threats or natural disasters.

The authors said that “the immediate family and, to a lesser extent, the children of the immediate family and cousins of the victims are reporting significant psychological distress”.

They argue that the long term effect of Bloody Sunday may be due in part to the cumulative stress factors such as the original Widgery Inquiry, the ongoing Saville Inquiry into the shootings, and recent film dramatisations of the event.

The results also tentatively suggest that the trauma is crossing the generations from immediate family members of the victims to their children.

The authors said this could support the view that it is impossible for children to grow up “without absorbing some of the emotional scars of the parents,” but they warned that the results do not justify such an unequivocal interpretation.

And they point out that the degree of exposure to Bloody Sunday-related stimuli may not be equal across family groupings and the study did not include a matched control group.

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Press Office Department of Communication and Development
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