Impact of exposure to community violence, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Gustav on posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms among school age children

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between exposure to Hurricane Gustav and distress among 122 children (ages 7-12) to determine whether that relationship was moderated by prior experiences with Hurricane Katrina and exposure to community violence (ECV). Measures of hurricane experiences, ECV, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and depression were administered. Assessments occurred after the third anniversary of Katrina, which coincided with the landfall of Gustav. Results indicated that the relation between exposure to Gustav and PTS was moderated by prior experiences. There was a positive association between Gustav exposure and PTS for children who experienced high Katrina exposure and low ECV, with a similar trend for children with high ECV and low Katrina exposure. There was no relationship between Gustav exposure and PTS for children with low Katrina and low ECV or for children with high Katrina and high ECV. The relationship between exposure to Gustav and depression was not moderated by children's prior experience. However, there was a relationship between Katrina exposure and depression for children with high ECV. Results suggest that prior trauma may amplify the relationship between hurricane exposure and distress, but children with high cumulative trauma may remain highly symptomatic regardless of disaster exposure.

School and Community Influences on the Long Term Postdisaster Recovery of Children and Youth Following Hurricane Georges

“…However, the lack of a differential effect for community violence is in contrast to a study of youth following the September 11 th terrorist attacks in New York City (Aber et al, 2004), where there was an interaction between youth’s personal exposure to community violence and overall family exposure to the terrorist attacks on predicting posttraumatic stress symptoms. Another study also found some support for community violence as moderator of hurricane exposure and distress for some youth (Salloum et al, 2011). These investigators found a positive association between exposure to Hurricane Gustav and posttraumatic stress symptoms for children with high exposure to either Hurricane Katrina or community violence, but not both.…”

“…Salloum and colleagues (2011) found a relation between Hurricane Gustav exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms for children with high levels of prior disaster exposure and low exposure to community violence, or with high community violence exposure and low prior disaster exposure. For children who were high on both, the impact of another disaster did not add to their already higher levels of distress.…”

Disasters and Depressive Symptoms in Children: A Review

“…Generally, prevalence rates of depression were higher among children assessed less than three months after the natural disaster ( k =4), when compared to children assessed at time points later than three months postdisaster. For example, in addition to the 69% prevalence rate just reported, prevalence rates were 10% among displaced children ( M age=15.51 years) two months after an earthquake in Turkey (Vehid, Alyanak, & Eksi, 2006), 13% among displaced children (ages 7–14 years) two months after the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand (Thienkrua et al, 2006), and 32% among children (ages 7–12 years) assessed less than one month after exposure to Hurricane Gustav (Salloum, Carter, Burch, Garfinkel, & Overstreet, 2011). In contrast, depression prevalence rates were lower when youth were assessed one year or more after a natural disaster.…”

“…Significant relationships to depression have been reported for the following risk factors: community violence (Salloum et al, 2011), life stressors (Fan et al, 2011; Kronenberg et al, 2010; Roussos et al, 2005; Salloum et al, 2011; Warheit et al, 1996; Wickrama & Kaspar, 2007), adversity (Giannopoulou et al, 2006), and restricted travel after a disaster (Comer et al, 2010). …”

Challenges Associated with Childhood Exposure to Severe Natural Disasters: Research Review and Clinical Implications

“…Given the weeks of media coverage commemorating the anniversary of Katrina combined with the timing and the initial projections about Hurricane Gustav, the days preceding the storm were anxiety provoking for an already traumatized New Orleans population (Witness Justice, 2008). In fact, the results of a study of 122 school-aged children living in New Orleans indicated that the relationship between exposure to Hurricane Gustav and PTSD symptoms was amplified for children who also had high prior exposure to Hurricane Katrina (Salloum, Carter, Burch, Garfinkel, & Overstreet, 2011). The authors argue that it is unlikely that a "near miss" disaster such as Hurricane Gustav would have been viewed as traumatic without prior exposure to Hurricane Katrina.…”