A school-based study conducted in 1990, 1 year after Hurricane Hugo, investigated the frequency and correlates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 1,264 adolescents aged 11-17 years residing in selected South Carolina communities. Data were collected via a 174-item self-administered questionnaire that included a PTSD symptom scale. A computer algorithm that applied decision rules of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised to the symptoms reported was used to assign a diagnosis of PTSD and to designate the number of individuals who met the reexperiencing (20%), avoidance (9%), and arousal (18%) criteria. Rates of PTSD were lowest in black males (1.5%) and higher, but similar, in the remaining groups (3.8-6.2%). Results from a multivariable logistic model indicated that exposure to the hurricane (odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval 1.13-1.41), experiencing other violent traumatic events (OR = 2.46, 95% confidence interval 1.75-3.44), being white (OR = 2.03, 95% confidence interval 1.12-3.69) and being female (OR = 2.17, 95% confidence interval 1.15-4.10) were significant correlates of PTSD.

Hardin: Carol Garrison2 ~~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ To ascertain the effects of a natural disaster on adolescents, 1482 SouthCarolina high school students who were exposed to Hum'cane Hugo were surveyed I year after the disaster. Subjects completed a self-administered questionnaire measuring Hugo exposure, nonviolent and violent life events, social support, self-eficacy, and psychological distress. Results showed that the students reported minimal aposure to the hurricane and psychological distress variables approximated national nonns. As exposure increased, adolescents reported increased symptoms of psychological distress; i e., anger, depression, anxiety, and global mental distress. Females and white students experienced higher levels of distress. In most cases, other stressfil life events were at least as strong a predictor of psychological distress as was exposure to the hurricane. Self-efficacy and social support were protective.

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1. The average score on the Restraint Questionnaire for Staff indicated that the extended care and nursing home staff members in the study presented had moderately positive attitudes toward using restraints. 2. There were no significant differences in attitude scores based on gender, position, education, or clinical experience. 3. Collaborating with another professional, especially a physician, was related to a more positive attitude toward restraints; this effect approached statistical significance. 4. Sixty-five percent of the staff could offer no alternatives to restraining a patient; for those who could offer an alternative, increasing staff size was cited most frequently.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescents' exposure to traumatic events and their self-health assessments, and to examine the protective effects of social support and self-efficacy on this relationship. Survey results (N = 1,427) indicated that experiencing violent and nonviolent negative life events and being exposed to a disaster were inversely associated with adolescents' positive health assessments. As social support and self-efficacy decreased, adolescents' health assessments worsened. Female and Black adolescents had less favorable health assessments than their male and White counterparts. Findings suggest that traumatic events are predictive of adolescents' health assessments and that social support and self-efficacy prevent adolescents' health assessments from declining following traumatic events.