Abstract
This study examined the stability of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a predominantly ethnic minority sample of youth exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Youth (n = 191 grades 4th thru 8th) were screened for exposure to traumatic experiences and PTSD symptoms at 24 months (Time 1) and then again at 30 months (Time 2) post-disaster. PTSD symptoms did not significantly decline over time and were higher than rates reported at earlier time points for more ethnically diverse samples. Younger age, female sex, and continued disrepair to the child’s home predicted stable elevated PTSD symptoms. Findings are consistent with predictions from contextual theories of disaster exposure and with epidemiological data from adult samples suggesting that the incidence of PTSD post Katrina is showing an atypical pattern of remittance. Theoretical, applied, and policy implications are discussed.
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Notes
We also tested if level of hurricane distress changed these results in a separate regression analysis and results indicated that these were non-significant predictors in regression models controlling Time 1 PTSD RI scores. Moreover, they did not change the effect of the other variables in the model and were thus left out of the final model reported in Table 2 in the interest of parsimony.
Given that difficulty seeing friends approached a traditional .05 alpha in the linear regression analysis (i.e., p = .06), we also examined the odds ratio for this predictor in an additional logistic regression analysis [that similarly included sex (1) male (0), grade 4–6 (1) grade 7–8 (0), and home still not fixed (1), home fixed (0)] and results indicated that difficulty seeing friends (yes coded 1) was associated with youth whose PTSD remained in the severe to very severe category or whose symptoms increased into the severe or very severe category from Time 1 to Time 2 (Wald = 4.09, p = .043, odds ratio = 4.8.)
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This research was made possible in part by a grant from the New Orleans Institute of Mental Hygiene awarded to Carl F. Weems.
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Weems, C.F., Taylor, L.K., Cannon, M.F. et al. Post Traumatic Stress, Context, and the Lingering Effects of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster among Ethnic Minority Youth. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38, 49–56 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-009-9352-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-009-9352-y