For some months following a major earthquake in central California, local children were much more likely to experience nightmares and seek referral to psychological clinics than comparable children in locales not affected by an earthquake. The investigators who studied this phenomenon in trying to understand the impact of such a traumatic experience on children's behavior were using a

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This study is an example of a natural experiment, which occurs when a naturally occurring event (in this case, the earthquake) provides opportunities to examine the effects of an independent variable (earthquake) on a dependent variable (children's behavior). The investigators did not manipulate any independent variable, and the study was conducted in a natural setting without any manipulation of the environment.

For Some Months Following a Major Earthquake in Central California