Princeton University, United States.
Soc Sci Med. 2012 Jan;74(2):150-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.004. Epub 2011 Nov 17.
Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States in August 2005, exposed area residents to trauma and extensive property loss. However, little is known about the long-run effects of the hurricane on the mental health of those who were exposed. This study documents long-run changes in mental health among a particularly vulnerable group-low income mothers-from before to after the hurricane, and identifies factors that are associated with different recovery trajectories. Longitudinal surveys of 532 low-income mothers from New Orleans were conducted approximately one year before, 7-19 months after, and 43-54 months after Hurricane Katrina. The surveys collected information on mental health, social support, earnings and hurricane experiences. We document changes in post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), as measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and symptoms of psychological distress (PD), as measured by the K6 scale. We find that although PTSS has declined over time after the hurricane, it remained high 43-54 months later. PD also declined, but did not return to pre-hurricane levels. At both time periods, psychological distress before the hurricane, hurricane-related home damage, and exposure to traumatic events were associated with PTSS that co-occurred with PD. Hurricane-related home damage and traumatic events were associated with PTSS without PD. Home damage was an especially important predictor of chronic PTSS, with and without PD. Most hurricane stressors did not have strong associations with PD alone over the short or long run. Over the long run, higher earnings were protective against PD, and greater social support was protective against PTSS. These results indicate that mental health problems, particularly PTSS alone or in co-occurrence with PD, among Hurricane Katrina survivors remain a concern, especially for those who experienced hurricane-related trauma and had poor mental health or low socioeconomic status before the hurricane.
卡特里娜飓风于 2005 年 8 月袭击美国墨西哥湾沿岸，使该地区居民遭受创伤和广泛的财产损失。然而，人们对飓风对暴露人群心理健康的长期影响知之甚少。本研究记录了飓风前后一个特别脆弱群体——低收入母亲的心理健康的长期变化，并确定了与不同恢复轨迹相关的因素。在卡特里娜飓风之前约一年、7-19 个月后和 43-54 个月后，对新奥尔良的 532 名低收入母亲进行了纵向调查。这些调查收集了心理健康、社会支持、收入和飓风经历的信息。我们记录了创伤后应激症状（PTSS）的变化，使用修订后的事件影响量表（IES-R）进行测量，以及心理困扰（PD）的症状，使用 K6 量表进行测量。我们发现，尽管飓风后 PTSD 症状随时间推移而下降，但在 43-54 个月后仍居高不下。PD 也有所下降，但并未恢复到飓风前的水平。在这两个时期，飓风前的心理困扰、与飓风相关的住房损失以及暴露于创伤性事件都与同时发生 PD 的 PTSD 相关。与飓风相关的住房损失和创伤性事件与没有 PD 的 PTSD 相关。住房损失是慢性 PTSD 的一个特别重要的预测因素，无论是否存在 PD。在短期或长期内，大多数飓风压力源与 PD 本身没有很强的关联。从长远来看，较高的收入对 PD 具有保护作用，而更多的社会支持对 PTSD 具有保护作用。这些结果表明，卡特里娜飓风幸存者的心理健康问题，尤其是 PTSD 单独或与 PD 同时存在，仍然是一个问题，尤其是那些经历过与飓风相关的创伤、飓风前心理健康状况较差或社会经济地位较低的人。
