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Buffalo Creek Survivors in the Second Decade: Comparison with Unexposed and Nonlitigant Groups 1
Author(s) -
Green Bonnie L.,
Grace Mary C.,
Lindy Jacob D.,
Gleser Goldine C.,
Leonard Anthony C.,
Kramer Teresa L.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb00388.x
Subject(s) - psychology , hostility , context (archaeology) , depression (economics) , anxiety , clinical psychology , demography , psychiatry , geography , archaeology , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
This study investigated the second‐decade effects of the Buffalo Creek dam collapse and flood that occurred in West Virginia in 1972. One hundred twenty‐one survivors who had participated in an earlier lawsuit against the coal company that built the collapsed dam were compared to 78 nonlitigant survivors on self‐reported symptoms, clinical ratings, and diagnoses. A nonexposed sample from a geographically and culturally similar neighborhood was investigated as well. Findings showed no differences between the litigant and nonlitigant survivor groups. The survivor groups together showed higher rates of anxiety, depression, and hostility symptoms and diagnoses than the nonexposed sample. The findings were discussed in the context of the nature of the traumatic event, social and cultural influences on recovery, and the constellation of symptoms which differentiated the groups.