Browsing by Subject "Natural disasters"

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    Distress Tolerance and Social Support in Adolescence: Predicting Risk for Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms Following a Natural Disaster
    (Springer, 2016) Cohen, Joseph R.; Danielson, Carla Kmett; Adams, Zachary W.; Ruggiero, Kenneth J.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    The purpose of the multi-measure, multi-wave, longitudinal study was to examine the interactive relation between behavioral distress tolerance (DT) and perceived social support (PSS) in 352 tornado-exposed adolescents aged 12–17 years (M=14.44; SD=1.74). At baseline, adolescents completed a computer-based task for DT, and self-report measures of PSS, depressed mood, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use, and interpersonal conflict. Symptoms also were assessed 4 and 12 months after baseline. Findings showed that lower levels of DT together with lower levels of PSS conferred risk for elevated symptoms of prospective depression (t(262)= −2.04, p=.04; reffect size=0.13) and PTSD (t(195)= −2.08, p=.04; reffect size=0.15) following a tornado. However, only PSS was significant in substance use t(139)=2.20, p=.03; reffect size=0.18) and conflict (t(138)=−4.05, p<.0001; reffect size=0.33) in our sample. Implications regarding adolescent DT, the transdiagnostic nature of PSS, and the clinical applications of our findings in the aftermath of a natural disaster are discussed.
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    How Should We Screen for Depression Following a Natural Disaster? An ROC Approach to Post-Disaster Screening in Adolescents and Adults
    (Elsevier, 2016) Cohen, Joseph R.; Adams, Zachary W.; Menon, Suvarna V.; Youngstrom, Eric A.; Bunnell, Brian E.; Acierno, Ron; Ruggiero, Kenneth J.; Danielson, Carla Kmett; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Background: The present study's aim was to provide the foundation for an efficient, empirically based protocol for depression screening following a natural disaster. Utilizing a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analytic approach, the study tested a) what specific disaster-related stressors (i.e., property damage, loss of basic services) and individual-related constructs (i.e., PTSD symptoms, trauma history, social support) conveyed the greatest risk for post-natural disaster depression, b) specific cutoff scores across these measures, and c) whether the significance or cutoff scores for each construct varied between adolescents and adults. Methods: Structured phone-based clinical interviews were conducted with 2000 adolescents who lived through a tornado and 1543 adults who survived a hurricane. Results: Findings suggested that in both adolescents and adults, individual-related constructs forecasted greater risk for depressive symptoms following a natural disaster compared to disaster-related stressors. Furthermore, trauma history and PTSD symptoms were particularly strong indicators for adolescent depressive symptoms compared to adult depressive symptoms. Adolescents and adults who reported vulnerable scores for social support, trauma history, and lifetime PTSD symptoms were approximately twice as likely to present as depressed following the natural disaster. Limitations: Findings from the present study were limited to post-disaster assessments and based on self-reported functioning 6-12 months following the natural disaster. Conclusions: The present study synthesizes the extensive body of research on post-disaster functioning by providing a clear framework for which questions may be most important to ask when screening for depression following a natural disaster.
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    Indy Postcard Collector, June 2023
    (Indianapolis Postcard Club, 2023-06) Hook, Sara Anne
    The June 2023 issue of Indy Postcard Collector, published by the Indianapolis Postcard Club, edited by Sara Anne Hook, Professor Emerita.