To what extent did the terrorist attack in Stockholm 2017 instill fear in the Swedish population?

An aim of committing terror is to instill fear in the population. This article explores to what extent Swedish citizens were cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally affected by the 2017 terrorist attack in Stockholm and how the citizens perceived that the authorities handled the situation. The study is based on data from a survey with 1996 participants, consisting of a random sample of people living in Sweden, aged 18–79 years. Our results show that exposure to terrorist acts has a significant negative psychological impact on the population in general and on those who do not feel part of Swedish society in particular. The attack's negative effect was despite the fact that the vast majority of respondents felt that society had handled the attack well and almost half of the respondents stated that they had gained increased confidence in the authorities.