Adults’ expectations on children’s earthquake-related emotions and coping strategies

Abstract

Natural disasters such as earthquakes have a highly traumatic impact on psychological functioning. Recently, the study of children's earthquake-related emotions and coping strategies has gathered attention. However, little is known on the corresponding adults' representation, adults who in case of disasters are frequently key informants on children's reactions. Examining the influence of earthquake experience, we explored adults' expectations on children's earthquake-related emotions and coping strategies. The participants were 572 Italian university students. Referring to what happens during and after earthquakes, they were asked to list children's (a) expected emotions, and (b) coping strategies for diminishing fear and sadness. We coded (a) number of fear, sadness, and anger terms; (b) presence of 13 coping strategies. We used Generalized Linear Mixed Models. Fear was more frequent than sadness, and more frequent during vs. after earthquakes (and vice versa for sadness). Some coping strategies were reported rarely, while others were more salient (i.e. problem-solving, information-seeking, self-reliance, support-seeking, and accommodation). Earthquake experience had a marginal impact. Our findings enable us to deepen knowledge on the emotional representation of earthquakes. At an applied level, they can help professionals to develop training programs aimed at increasing children's emotional preparedness.

Development and Early Implementation of a Public Communication Campaign to Help Adults to Support Children and Adolescents to Cope With Coronavirus-Related Emotions: A Community Case Study

“…These actions are organized around efforts to "trade" options to reach one's own goals. This meta-analysis has confirmed the expected efficacy of these strategies in mitigating the negative effects of disasters, and its results were further confirmed relating earthquakes (Raccanello et al, 2020a). It showed that strategies incorporating escape, delegation, social isolation, and opposition were positively linked with traumatic symptoms, while problem-solving and support-seeking actions were positively linked with indicators of positive change (e.g., self-efficacy and understanding of emotions).…”

“…During and after disasters, children can use a large variety of coping strategies to feel better. A meta-analysis (Raccanello et al, 2020a) examined the relation between coping strategies used after a disaster and indicators of persistent traumatic symptoms or positive changes over time among children and adolescents. In that study, we coded coping strategies into three categories (Table 1) according to the developmental classification of Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner (2011), with each (which continued to increase across the 40 days).…”

Coping Strategies and Psychological Maladjustment/Adjustment: A Meta-Analytic Approach with Children and Adolescents Exposed to Natural Disasters

“…It is worth noting that most of the interventions examined in the psychological literature were conducted after a disaster has occurred (for meta-analyses on their efficacy see Brown et al, 2017 ; Kar et al, 2009 ; Pfefferbaum et al, 2019 ). However, disaster preparedness and prevention are of key relevance to support adjustment and use of effective coping strategies in the case of an emergency (for example of one intervention conducted before disasters, see Raccanello, et al, 2019b , 2020a , 2021 ; Vicentini et al, 2020 ).…”

Development and Validation of the Robust - Pandemic Coping Scale (R-PCS)

“…Two studies were particularly important in informing the development of the scale. One was a meta-analysis of relevant studies involving children and adolescents ( Raccanello et al, 2019 ) and the other, a study in which adults reported adaptive strategies used to cope with earthquakes ( Raccanello et al, 2021a ). The literature review was followed by a process, in which four experts in developmental and educational psychology independently created a set of adaptive and maladaptive strategies that could be used to cope with the negative psychological consequences of pandemics, basing their work on previous research (e.g., Raccanello et al, 2019 , 2020a , b , 2021a ; Vicentini et al, 2020 ).…”

“…One was a meta-analysis of relevant studies involving children and adolescents ( Raccanello et al, 2019 ) and the other, a study in which adults reported adaptive strategies used to cope with earthquakes ( Raccanello et al, 2021a ). The literature review was followed by a process, in which four experts in developmental and educational psychology independently created a set of adaptive and maladaptive strategies that could be used to cope with the negative psychological consequences of pandemics, basing their work on previous research (e.g., Raccanello et al, 2019 , 2020a , b , 2021a ; Vicentini et al, 2020 ). A panel of judges (consisting of the four previously mentioned experts and two other experts in general psychology and education) discussed the set of items and retained 36 of the initial pool.…”