Natural Disaster and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders in Puerto Rican Children

Felix, Erika D.; Hernandez, L.; Bravo, Milagros; Ramírez, Rafael; Cabiya, José J.; Canino, Glorisa

doi:10.1007/s10802-010-9483-1

Cited by 67 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…The impact of child pre-disaster and mother’s pre- and post-disaster mental health is consistent with results of several previous studies [19,20,30,56,59,61-67]. In our case, it may bolster two hypotheses: a direct trans-generational effect on child’s psychiatric outcomes, or a confounding effect on child’s symptoms she reports.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The expected small gender effect on psychiatric symptoms [11,55] was disconfirmed by our findings as also occurred in other studies [20,22,56]. As gender differences in internalizing symptoms typically emerge since puberty when these are more relevant in girls [57], it is possible that the relatively low prevalence of this symptoms spectrum in the whole sample and in the 11–14 years group may have reduced the effect of gender to non significant levels.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

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Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents one year after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake

et al. 2014

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BackgroundIn 2009, an earthquake devastated the Abruzzo region in Italy. Despite the occurrence of several disasters in this country, no study on mental health of Italian children has ever been conducted in complex emergencies. Objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms among children in the affected area 12 to 17 months after the event.MethodsA community sample of 1839 3-14 years children was identified from the general population assigned to 37 paediatricians of the National Health System, including children living in the earthquake epicentre, the surrounding earthquake zone, and the adjacent non-affected areas. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self Report (YSR), completed by 452 children aged 11–14 years. The association between symptoms and sociodemographic, health, family, and earthquake-related factors was examined.ResultsThe prevalence of CBCL-defined cases was 14.9% in the epicentre, 13.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 13.9% in the unaffected area (p = .876). No differences among areas were found when comparing the YSR results. Prevalence of CBCL-defined post-traumatic stress (PTS) cases was 8.4% in the epicentre, 4.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 2.2% in the unaffected area (p = .002). PTS and anxiety were significantly more frequent in the epicentre than in other areas only in the 6–10 year-old children group (respectively p = .009 and p = .014). In multivariate logistic analyses, factors associated with PTS were living in the epicentre (OR = 3.6) and child or maternal history of mental health care prior to the earthquake (respectively OR = 7.1 and OR = 4.5).ConclusionsChildren living in the epicentre, particularly those 6–10 years old, had the highest prevalence of CBCL-defined cases, and of PTS and anxiety symptoms one year after the earthquake. No signs of increased psychopathology were detected in younger (3–5 years) or older children (11–14 years). Family and health related factors showed stronger association with psychiatric outcomes than earthquake-related factors. The identification of populations at higher risk of developing psychiatric symptoms has implications for public health interventions in complex emergencies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents one year after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake

et al. 2014

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“…Post-disaster, children and youth can show symptoms of post-traumatic stress, depression, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, and distress for a prolonged time period (Felix et al, 2011; La Greca & Prinstein, 2002; La Greca, Silverman, Vernberg, & Prinstein, 1996). Although the prevalence of psychopathology for children and adults tends to decrease with time after a disaster (Norris et al, 2002), following Hurricane Katrina, prevalence increased, and this was hypothesized to be due to prolonged difficulties in the recovery environment (Kessler et al 2008; Weems et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Felix

You

Canino

2013

Journal Community Psychology

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Disasters affect the school and community microsystems in which children and youth recover. This study explored characteristics of the school (school violence, teachers’ attitudes) and community microsystem (neighborhood climate, neighborhood monitoring, community violence) that may affect the disaster exposure and internalizing psychopathology relationship in children and youth 12–27 months after Hurricane Georges hit Puerto Rico. A representative sample (N=1,637) of caregivers and children/youth completed structured interviews in Spanish. Controlling for gender and perception of poverty, for children (age 6–10 years), hurricane exposure increased risk for internalizing psychopathology, but the school and community variables did not have an influence. For all youth (age 11–17 years), witnessing community violence and poor teacher attitudes increased the risk of psychopathology. In addition, neighborhood climate and school violence were moderators. For non-exposed youth, poor neighborhood climate and perceiving greater school violence increased the risk of internalizing psychopathology, whereas for exposed youth it did not.

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“…After exposure to a natural disaster , prevalence rates varied widely, from 4% at 18 months post-hurricane among youth (ages 4–17 years) in Puerto Rico (Felix et al, 2011), to 69% among youth (male M age=18.25 years; female M age=17.23 years) assessed two weeks after an earthquake in Greece (Papadatos et al, 1990). 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.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disasters and Depressive Symptoms in Children: A Review

Lai

Auslander

Fitzpatrick

et al. 2014

Child Youth Care Forum

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Background Disasters are destructive, potentially traumatic events that affect millions of youth each year. Objective The purpose of this paper was to review the literature on depressive symptoms among youth after disasters. Specifically, we examined the prevalence of depression, risk factors associated with depressive symptoms, and theories utilized in this research area. Methods We searched MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and PubMed electronic databases for English language articles published up to May 1, 2013. Reference lists from included studies were reviewed to capture additional studies. Only quantitative, peer reviewed studies, conducted with youth under the age of 18 years, that examined postdisaster depressive symptoms were included. Seventy-two studies met inclusion criteria. Prevalence of depressive symptoms, disaster type, correlates of depressive symptoms, and theories of depressive symptoms were reviewed. Results Only 27 studies (38%) reported on prevalence rates among youth in their sample. Prevalence rates of depression among youth postdisaster ranged from 2% to 69%. Potential risk factors were identified (e.g., female gender, exposure stressors, posttraumatic stress symptoms). Theories were examined in less than one-third of studies (k = 21). Conclusions Given the variability in prevalence rates, difficulty identifying a single profile of youth at risk for developing depressive symptoms, and lack of a unifying theory emerging from the studies, recommendations for future research are discussed. Use of established batteries of assessments could enable comparisons across studies. Merging existing theories from children’s postdisaster and depression literatures could aid in the identification of risk factors and causal pathways.

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Natural Disaster and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders in Puerto Rican Children

Cited by 67 publications

References 40 publications

Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents one year after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake

Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents one year after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake

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

Disasters and Depressive Symptoms in Children: A Review

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