Citation

Self-Brown S, Lai BS, Harbin S, Kelley ML. Int. J. Public Health 2014; 59(6): 957-965.

Affiliation

School of Public Health, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3995, Atlanta, GA, 30302, United States of America, sselfbrown@gsu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00038-014-0596-0

PMID

25255912

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in impoverished mothers impacted by Hurricane Katrina, as well as how predictive the maternal trajectories were for youth posttraumatic stress symptoms 2 years post-Katrina.

METHODS: 360 mother participants displaced by Hurricane Katrina completed self-report measures across four time points related to Hurricane exposure, trauma history, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Additionally, the youth offspring completed a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress symptoms.

RESULTS: Latent Class Growth Analysis demonstrated three primary trajectories emerged among females impacted by Katrina, namely, (1) chronic (4 %), (2) recovering (30 %), and (3) resilient (66 %), respectively. These trajectories were significantly impacted by prior trauma history, but not hurricane exposure. Additionally, data indicated that children whose parents fell into the chronic PTS trajectory also reported high levels of PTS symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: This study identified three main trajectories typical of female PTS symptoms following disaster and was the first known study to document associations between PTS outcomes among adults and their offspring impacted by a large natural disaster. Future research is warranted and should explore additional risk and protective factors that impact both the parental and child outcomes.

Language: en