Citation

Du YB, Lee CT, Christinam D, Belfer ML, Betancourt TS, O'Rourke EJ, Palfrey JS. Disasters 2012; 36(3): 495-513.

Affiliation

Resident in Adult Psychiatry, Columbia-New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, United States Medical Student, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States Psychologist Consultant, International Organization for Migration, Meulaboh, Indonesia Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States Assistant Professor of Child Health and Human Rights, Department of Global Health and Population Director, Research Program on Children and Global Adversity, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, United States Faculty Director, Student International Programs, Scholars in Medicine Office at Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States Senior Associate in Medicine, Children's Hospital, Department of Medicine, Boston, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01271.x

PMID

22098206

Abstract

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.

Language: en