Citation

Fernando GA, Miller KE, Berger DE. Child Dev. 2010; 81(4): 1192-1210.

Affiliation

California State University, Los Angeles.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01462.x

PMID

20636690

Abstract

Daily stressors may mediate the relation between exposure to disaster-related stressors and psychological and psychosocial distress among youth in disaster-affected countries. A sample of 427 Sri Lankan Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim youth (mean age = 14.5) completed a survey with measures of exposure to disaster-related stressors and daily stressors, psychological distress (posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety), and psychosocial distress. The results indicated that daily stressors significantly mediated relations between war- and tsunami-related stressors and psychological and psychosocial distress. Some daily stressors not directly related to disaster also predicted functioning. These results point to the need for policies and interventions that focus on reducing proximal daily stressors that are salient to Sri Lankan youth exposed to disasters.

Language: en