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The living environment and children's fears following the Indonesian tsunami
Author(s) -
Du Ye Beverly,
Lee Christopher Thomas,
Christina Desy,
Belfer Myron L.,
Betancourt Theresa S.,
O'Rourke Edward James,
Palfrey Judith S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01271.x
Subject(s) - indonesian , residence , injury prevention , logistic regression , suicide prevention , poison control , occupational safety and health , demography , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , environmental health , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , pathology
The tsunami that struck South‐east Asia on 26 December 2004 left more than 500,000 people in Aceh, Indonesia, homeless and displaced to temporary barracks and other communities. This study examines the associations between prolonged habitation in barracks and the nature of fears reported by school‐age children and adolescents. In mid‐2007, 30 months after the tsunami, the authors interviewed 155 child and parent dyads. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the fears reported by children and adolescents living in barracks with those reported by their peers who were living in villages. After adjusting for demographic factors and tsunami exposure, the data reveals that children and adolescents living in barracks were three times more likely than those living in villages to report tsunami‐related fears. The study demonstrates that continued residence in barracks 30 months after the tsunami is associated with higher rates of reporting tsunami‐related fears, suggesting that barracks habitation has had a significant impact on the psychological experience of children and adolescents since the tsunami.