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When Natural Disaster Follows Economic Downturn: The Incremental Impact of Multiple Stressor Events on Trajectories of Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2018

Amar D. Mandavia  and
George A. Bonanno
Amar D. Mandavia
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York
George A. Bonanno*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to George Bonanno, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th St., 426B Horace Mann, New York, NY 10027 (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Abstract

Objective

To determine whether there were incremental mental health impacts, specifically on depression trajectories, as a result of the 2008 economic crisis (the Great Recession) and subsequent Hurricane Sandy.

Method

Using latent growth mixture modeling and the ORANJ BOWL dataset, we examined prospective trajectories of depression among older adults (mean age, 60.67; SD, 6.86) who were exposed to the 2 events. We also collected community economic and criminal justice data to examine their impact upon depression trajectories. Participants (N=1172) were assessed at 3 times for affect, successful aging, and symptoms of depression. We additionally assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology after Hurricane Sandy.

Results

We identified 3 prospective trajectories of depression. The majority (83.6%) had no significant change in depression from before to after these events (resilience), while 7.2% of the sample increased in depression incrementally after each event (incremental depression). A third group (9.2%) went from high to low depression symptomology following the 2 events (depressive-improving). Only those in the incremental depression group had significant PTSD symptoms following Hurricane Sandy.

Conclusion

We identified a small group of individuals for whom the experience of multiple stressful events had an incremental negative effect on mental health outcomes. These results highlight the importance of understanding the perseveration of depression symptomology from one event to another. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:173–182)

Keywords

hurricanemental disorderposttraumatic stress disorder
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 173 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2018 

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