Earthquakes and children: The role of psychologists with families and communities.

Abstract

The 2008 Sichuan Province earthquake and 2005 Pakistan earthquake are examples of natural disasters that took an unimaginable toll on children. In such disaster management contexts, family members as well as health care and school personnel are the first-line responders and are natural sources of continued social support as children recover. Although psychologists have increasingly sophisticated understandings of post-disaster reactions and strategies for helping children and adolescents cope with trauma, models for responding to mass catastrophes are limited, particularly in geographically remote communities and in regions where mental health services are stigmatizing. With children's well-being subsequent to earthquakes inextricably linked to family and community, psychologists can make important contributions in three spheres: (a) coordinating and activating collaborations within children's existing social contexts to develop post-earthquake interventions; (b) designing prevention and preparedness programs focused on the emotional needs of children in earthquake-prone communities; and (c) conducting research on interventions and recovery with particular attention to developmental stage, socio-cultural-economic contexts, and the similarities versus differences across various types of disasters.

Prevalence and predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and depressive symptoms among child survivors 1 year following the Wenchuan earthquake in China

“…This finding is inconsistent with the results of a previous study [35], which found that relocation predicted greater depression, although not traumatic stress. One possible explanation is that although relocation may initially change the survivors' social networks [35,57], it may reduce PTSD and depressive symptoms by limiting exposure to potential reminders of the disaster [15] and obtaining more material or emotional social support from local governments and organizations [10].…”

“…Recently, several reviews of the research literature have summarized and identified a series of risk factors associated with the vulnerability to develop PTSD and depressive symptoms among child and adolescent survivors of natural disasters [13][14][15][16]. Among these risk factors, pre-existing child characteristics (e.g., gender, age, and prior exposure to traumatic events) have been well studied.…”

Understanding the Relationship between Trauma Exposure and Depression among Adolescents after Earthquake: The Roles of Fear and Resilience

“…In particular, depression among adolescents after earthquakes has attracted growing interest (e.g., Giannopoulou et al, 2006; Goenjian et al, 2011), because of the observed susceptibility of adolescents to trauma following natural disasters (e.g., Margolin et al, 2010). Prevalence rates for depression have ranged from 13.6 to 51.3% in adolescents exposed to earthquakes (e.g., Kolaitis et al, 2003; Fan et al, 2011; Qu et al, 2012; Ying et al, 2014).…”

Determination and Evaluation of Effects of Earthquake on School Age Children's (6-12 Years Old) Behaviours

“…Each child perceives and responds to such a traumatic experience in their own way, in other words, children are affected by earthquakes differently (Margolin, Ramos & Guran, 2010). Their reactions differ from each other; while some demonstrate behavioral changes, some others may pretend to ignore what has happened for days, weeks, and even months and finally come up with problem behaviours (Ergen 2009).…”