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Children’s Disaster Reactions: the Influence of Family and Social Factors

  • Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry (B Pfefferbaum, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

This review examines family (demographics, parent reactions and interactions, and parenting style) and social (remote effects, disaster media coverage, exposure to secondary adversities, and social support) factors that influence children’s disaster reactions. Lower family socioeconomic status, high parental stress, poor parental coping, contact with media coverage, and exposure to secondary adversities have been associated with adverse outcomes. Social support may provide protection to children in the post-disaster environment though more research is needed to clarify the effects of certain forms of social support. The interaction of the factors described in this review with culture needs further exploration.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted by the Terrorism and Disaster Center (TDC), at the University of Missouri and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, a partner in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). TDC is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of HHS, NCTSN, SAMHSA, the University of Missouri, or the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

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Conflict of Interest

J. Brian Houston and Natalie Griffin declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Betty Pfefferbaum has received a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration.

Anne K. Jacobs has received consulting fees/honorarium from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901 – WP3217, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126, USA

    Betty Pfefferbaum

  2. Terrorism and Disaster Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901 – WP3217, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126, USA

    Betty Pfefferbaum, Anne K. Jacobs & Natalie Griffin

  3. Department of Communication, University of Missouri, 115 Switzler Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211-2310, USA

    J. Brian Houston

Authors
  1. Betty Pfefferbaum
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  2. Anne K. Jacobs
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  3. J. Brian Houston
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  4. Natalie Griffin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Betty Pfefferbaum.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry

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Pfefferbaum, B., Jacobs, A.K., Houston, J.B. et al. Children’s Disaster Reactions: the Influence of Family and Social Factors. Curr Psychiatry Rep 17, 57 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0597-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0597-6

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