Citation

Okuyama J, Funakoshi S, Tomita H, Yamaguchi T, Matsuoka H. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2018; 72(11): 821-835.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/pcn.12772

PMID

30058206

Abstract

AIMS: Resilience, the ability to cope with disasters and significant life adversity, is an important factor to consider when studying the mental health of populations affected by a disaster. Although high school students in a community affected by a disaster should have specific characteristics of resilience, little has been reported on the issue. This study was designed to provide initial data regarding characteristics of the resilience of high-school students affected by a catastrophe.

METHODS: A total of 760 high school students in Natori City, which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, were profiled, and a three-year longitudinal study was conducted with 254 students who entered the school in 2012. Resilience was evaluated with the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). The Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Japanese version (QIDS-J), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were also administered to assess the mental health.

RESULTS: Among the students who entered the high school in 2012, 28.6% showed high resilience, and the proportion increased to 42.9% in 2013 and 46.6% in 2014. The QIDS-J and IES-R scores decreased significantly over the three-year study period, but there were no significant differences in the SAS scores over time.

CONCLUSION: This initial study profiling the characteristics of resilience among adolescents suggests that resilience is a highly changeable component of mental health among people who have faced adversity. Resilience can be a useful indicator of recovery from adversity and a target of interventions for improving mental health conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; disasters; longitudinal studies; resilience; the Great East Japan Earthquake