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A Prospective Study of Religiousness and Psychological Distress Among Female Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This prospective study examined the pathways by which religious involvement affected the post-disaster psychological functioning of women who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The participants were 386 low-income, predominantly Black, single mothers. The women were enrolled in the study before the hurricane, providing a rare opportunity to document changes in mental health from before to after the storm, and to assess the protective role of religious involvement over time. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that, controlling for level of exposure to the hurricanes, pre-disaster physical health, age, and number of children, pre-disaster religiousness predicted higher levels of post-disaster (1) social resources and (2) optimism and sense of purpose. The latter, but not the former, was associated with better post-disaster psychological outcome. Mediation analysis confirmed the mediating role of optimism and sense of purpose.

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Notes

  1. Acknowledging that different communities have different preferences, in this article we use the terms “African American,” “Black American,” and “Black” interchangeably.

  2. For the sake of brevity, unless otherwise indicated, “Hurricane Katrina” refers to both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant R01HD046162, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton University, and the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan. We thank Alice Carter and Sarah Schwartz for their comments on an earlier version of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, 02125, USA

    Christian S. Chan & Jean E. Rhodes

  2. College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    John E. Pérez

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  1. Christian S. Chan
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  2. Jean E. Rhodes
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  3. John E. Pérez
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Correspondence to Christian S. Chan.

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Chan, C.S., Rhodes, J.E. & Pérez, J.E. A Prospective Study of Religiousness and Psychological Distress Among Female Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Am J Community Psychol 49, 168–181 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9445-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9445-y

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