TUSCALOOSA, AL -

After the April 27, 2011 tornado devastated Tuscaloosa, a University of Alabama psychology professor is leading a nationwide team that will study the effects of the tornado on children that were impacted by the event.

According to the University of Alabama, Saxon Chair of Clinical Psychology Dr. John Lochman will spend the next five years studying 360 children and families, along with the rest of his team.

Colleagues will include those from UA, the University of Kansas, the University of Minnesota and King's College in London. The group received a $1.9 million grant for the project from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with co-funding provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research and the NIH Office of Disease Prevention.

Similar studies have been published on the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew, UA's study will focus on external behavior, physiological responses, social relations with other children and emotional effects on parents. The Katrina and Andrew studies focused on anxiety and depression.

A previous study conducted by Lochman assigned at-risk pre-adolescent children to small group and one-on-one counseling, providing valuable pre-trauma information on the subjects.

"In most trauma research with children, there's never really been a pre-trauma
score," said Lochman. "None of the prior studies have had this wide range of
markers of children's pre-trauma functioning. This really is an unusual
opportunity.

"This study will critically advance scientific understanding by allowing for
comparisons of children's and parents' pre- and post-disaster functioning on a
range of biopsychosocial indicators," Lochman added, "and also by exploring the
effects of timing and type of intervention in trauma-exposed youth and
parents."

We'll have more on this story tonight at 5 and 6 p.m.