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Placing age differences in the context of the Orissa supercyclone: Who experiences psychological distress?
Author(s) -
Suar Damodar,
Mishra Sasmita,
Khuntia Rooplekha
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-839x.2007.00218.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , psychology , depression (economics) , distress , psychological distress , context (archaeology) , clinical psychology , caste , psychiatry , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , biology , economics , macroeconomics
The present study examines the influence of age on anxiety, depression, and post‐traumatic stress of the supercyclone‐affected people in Orissa. The data were collected in structured interview sessions 3 months after the disaster struck. Of the 130 interviewees, 65 persons were severely exposed and the rest were mildly exposed to the supercyclone. When the effects of exposure, caste, and gender were controlled, linear effects of age on psychological distress were found to be significant, whereas quadratic effects of age on psychological distress were non‐significant. With increasing age, survivors experienced more anxiety, depression and post‐traumatic stress. The elderly people were the most vulnerable.