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Natural Disaster and Depression: A Prospective Investigation of Reactions to the 1993 Midwest Floods
Author(s) -
Ginexi Elizabeth M.,
Weihs Karen,
Simmens Samuel J.,
Hoyt Danny R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1023/a:1005188515149
Subject(s) - suicide prevention , depression (economics) , natural disaster , psychopathology , psychology , poison control , public health , injury prevention , psychiatry , distress , occupational safety and health , demography , medicine , clinical psychology , environmental health , geography , nursing , sociology , pathology , meteorology , economics , macroeconomics
Abstract A statewide sample of 1735 Iowa residents, approximately half of whom were victims of the 1993 Midwest Floods, participated in interviews 1 year prior to, and 30 to 90 days after, the disaster. Employing a rigorous methodology including both control‐group comparisons and predisaster assessments, we performed a systematic evaluation of the disaster's impact. Overall, the disaster led to true but small rises in depressive symptoms and diagnoses 60–90 days postflood. The disaster–psychopathology effect was not moderated by predisaster depressive symptoms or diagnostically defined depression; rather, predisaster symptoms and diagnoses uniquely contributed to increases in postdisaster distress. However, increases in symptoms as a function of flood impact were slightly greater among respondents with the lowest incomes and among residents living in small rural communities, as opposed to on farms or in cities. Implications for individual‐ and community‐level disaster response are discussed.