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Friday July 30,2010

Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes in Natural and Human-Caused Disasters

by National Center For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

The focus of this report is on within-sample factors that influence who is most likely to experience serious and lasting psychological distress as a result of a disaster. As suggested by Freedy et al. (1992), we differentiated among predisaster, within-disaster, and postdisaster factors.

Predisaster Factors

Gender influenced postdisaster outcomes in 45 studies, as follows:

• In 42 of 45 studies (93%), women or girls were affected more adversely by disasters than were men or boys. Panel studies indicate that psychological effects were not only stronger among females, but more lasting as well.

• The effects occurred across a broad range of outcomes, but the strongest effects were for PTSD, for which women's rates often exceeded men's by a ratio of 2:1.

• The effects of gender were greatest within samples from traditional cultures and in the context of severe exposure.

Age and Experience influenced disaster victims' outcomes in 17 samples, as follows:

• A consistent pattern was not apparent within the findings from the 3 child and adolescent samples.

• Older adults were at greater risk than other adults in only 2 of the 14 adult samples (14%). Rather than viewing older adults as an at-risk group, they could be viewed as a resource for disaster stricken communities.

• Middle-aged adults were most adversely affected in every American sample where they were differentiated from older and younger adults. Some research suggests that middle-aged adults are most at risk because they have greater stress and burdens before the disaster strikes and they assume even greater obligations afterwards.

• Cross-cultural research suggests that the effects of age may differ across countries according to the social, political, economic, and historical context of the disaster setting.

• At least in disasters of smaller magnitude, prior experience with the specific type of event may reduce anxiety. People who have experienced previous disasters show higher levels of hazard preparedness and are more likely to evacuate when authorities suggest they do.

• Professionalism and training increase the resilience of recovery workers, although past trauma per se does not.