Disaster Interpersonal Communication and Posttraumatic Stress Following the 2011 Joplin, Missouri, Tornado

Abstract

In 2011 a deadly tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people. Six months after this disaster, we conducted a random digit dialing telephone survey of Joplin adult residents (N ¼ 380) to examine the relationships between disaster experience, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and disaster interpersonal communication. We found that tornado experience and PTS symptoms resulting from the disaster were related to more interpersonal communication about the event. Considering the nature of disaster experience in understanding the relationships between PTS symptoms and disaster interpersonal communication proved important, as PTS symptoms were related to more talk with neighbors for those directly affected by the storm and more attendance at community meetings for those not directly affected. For those living in Joplin who knew someone who died, more PTS symptoms were related to more talk with friends, family, and neighbors and more attendance at community meetings relative to those who did not know someone.

Individual perceptions of community resilience following the 2011 Joplin tornado

“…Third, our results also indicate the importance of interpersonal communication in fostering resilience. This finding is in line with other work indicating the importance of talk, social capital or social support in recovering from disasters or fostering resilience (Aldrich & Meyer, ; Houston & Franken, ; Pennebaker & Harber, ; Pfefferbaum, Houston, North, et al., ). The talk that was most important in our results was conversations about the tornado with friends, family and neighbours.…”

Gender differences in the interaction effect of community resources and attitudes toward seeking professional help on posttraumatic stress, depression, and posttraumatic growth

“…For example, among survivors of a tornado, higher social support was associated with less probable PTSD and depression , but interpersonal communication, such as with neighbors on the tornado was positively associated with symptoms of PTSD (Houston & Franken, 2015). The positive association between communication among community citizens and posttraumatic stress was also observed after a large-scale hurricane (Spialek, Houston, & Worley, 2019).…”

“…Among the studies that examined the role of the community, higher social ties with the community has been found to be associated with better adjustment after a disaster (Adeola & Picou, ; Hikichi, Aida, Tsuboya, Kondo, & Kawachi, ), but there have also been mixed findings (Lowe et al, ). For example, among survivors of a tornado, higher social support was associated with less probable PTSD and depression (Houston et al, ), but interpersonal communication, such as with neighbors on the tornado was positively associated with symptoms of PTSD (Houston & Franken, ). The positive association between communication among community citizens and posttraumatic stress was also observed after a large‐scale hurricane (Spialek, Houston, & Worley, ).…”

The Development and Initial Validation of the Citizen Disaster Communication Assessment

“…In regard to gender and race, our Study 3 Post-Event sample was predominantly female and White. Females are more likely to seek information during disasters (Spence, Lachlan, Burke, & Seeger, 2007) as well as to talk with family, friends, and neighbors following disasters (Houston & Franken, 2015). Therefore, females may be more motivated to participate in Post-Event citizen disaster communication studies because they are more likely to access their communication ecologies to cope following disasters.…”

“…For example, disaster media use measures (e.g., Dutta-Bergman, 2004) do not account for interpersonal communication that may occur within a disaster communication ecology. Similarly, scales that are phase-specific (e.g., Houston & Franken, 2015) measure the communication that facilitates or constitutes phase-specific disaster coping efforts, but do not capture communication at other disaster phases. Individuals may significantly adapt their disaster communication ecology to cope with different challenges across disaster phases, and phase-specific disaster communication scales cannot account for any of this variation in communication ecologies before, during, and after disasters.…”