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We address the research question: 'Did the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill have similar psychosocial impacts as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill?' We answer this question by comparing survey results from a random sample of Cordova, Alaska, residents collected 18 months after the Exxon spill with a random sample of residents in the Alabama coastal counties of Baldwin and south Mobile 1 year after the BP disaster. Analysis revealed similarly high levels of psychological stress for survivors of both disasters. For residents of coastal Alabama, the strongest predictors of psychosocial stress were exposure to oil, ties to renewable resources, concerns about their economic future, worries about air quality, and safety issues regarding seafood harvests in oiled areas. Differences between south Mobile and Baldwin counties were related to the former community's economic ties to renewable resources and Baldwin County's dependence on tourism for economic sustainability.

Scant research has focused on resilient responding to disasters such as oil spills a year or more after the event. One year after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, this study assessed perceived resilience, relations between resiliency and psychological symptoms, and the degree to which self-reported resiliency was associated with reduced psychological symptoms after accounting for differences in economic impact sustained by Gulf Coast residents. Participants were 812 adults (64% women, mean age 50) of 2 Alabama coastal communities. Participants were administered a telephone survey 1-year post-spill assessing self-perceptions of impact factors (e.g., economic and social), resilience, coping, and depressive and PTSD symptoms. Most participants perceived themselves as resilient (n = 739). As expected, lower perceived resilience was associated with greater ongoing depressive and PTSD symptoms. Spill-related economic impact predicted greater depressive and PTSD symptoms; however, perceived resilience predicted significant variance in psychological symptoms after taking into account spill-related economic impact. Improving individuals' sense of resiliency may help mitigate psychosocial and mental health effects over time.

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