At the peak of a hurricane watch and warning, participants completed a questionnaire asking about their prior experience with a hurricane (property loss and distress), and their degree of preparation, perceived threat, and distress when threatened by Hurricane Emily (Study 1) or Hurricane Fran (Study 2). In Study 1, age, income, internal locus of control, perceived threat, and current distress predicted preparation. Among participants with hurricane experience, age and distress as a result of the hurricane accounted for a significant portion of preparation variance. In Study 2, age, perceived threat, and hurricane experience predicted preparation. The findings support both the conservation of resources stress model (Hobfoll, 1989) and the warning and response model (Lindell & Perry, 1992). Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

This cross-national study examined preparation for and psychological functioning following Hurricane Georges in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the United States. Four to five weeks after the storm made landfall, 697 college students (222 men, 476 women) completed a questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics, preparation, social support, resource loss, and symptoms associated with acute stress disorder. Location, resource loss (especially personal characteristic resources) and social support accounted for a significant portion of psychological distress variance. The findings support the conservation of resources stress theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 1998). Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Gifted adolescents reported degree of loneliness to be a function of anger, depression, and stressful life changes. Furthermore, the most salient aspects of depression for predicting loneliness were helplessness, social introversion, and low self-esteem. The relationship between loneliness and depression suggests further evidence of a possible success depression in certain gifted adolescents. The results help to clarify the complex relationship between loneliness and other dysphoric states in these youths.

Reading grade levels were obtained for depression scales by use of two empirically based readability formulae. Kovacs' children's measure had the easiest reading level, the General Behavior Inventory was appropriate for college-level reading, and most other measures clustered at a fifth-to ninth-grade reading level. Results suggest that most of the scales are appropriate for use with both adolescents and adult patients who have attained ninth-grade-level reading skills. The limitations of empirical estimates of readability are discussed, and it is noted, that comprehension could be influenced by contextual variables such as scale format.

This study examined psychological distress and functioning among Hurricane