Abstract
Background: The effects of recurrent exposure to disasters on adolescents’ mental health have rarely been studied. We examined the effects of two earthquake experiences 5 years apart in a longitudinal cohort of Chinese adolescents.Methods: A total of 858 adolescents were assessed in September, 2011 (3.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake, 1.5 years before Ya’an earthquake, T1) and April, 2013 (1 week after the Ya’an earthquake, T2). Participants’ Wenchuan earthquake experiences and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were assessed at T1, and their Ya’an earthquake experiences, Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), PTSD, and depression were assessed at T2.Results: Structural equation models showed a positive relationship between Ya’an earthquake experiences and symptoms of ASD, PTSD, and depression at T2. T1 PTSD symptoms significantly increased T2 ASD, PTSD, and depression symptoms, and also mediated the relationships between Wenchuan earthquake experiences and T2 ASD, PTSD, and depression symptoms. T1 Depression symptoms also significantly increased T2 ASD, PTSD, and depression symptoms, but only mediated the association between Wenchuan earthquake experiences and T2 depression symptoms. In addition, Wenchuan earthquake experiences moderated the effects of Ya’an earthquake experiences on ASD symptoms and PTSD symptoms but not depression.Conclusion: Repeated to exposure to disasters have adverse additive effects on adolescents’ mental health. Adolescents who experience one disaster may be sensitive to the negative impact of subsequent ones.
Highlights
At 08:02 Beijing Time (00:02UTC) on April 20, 2013, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the Ya’an County, Sichuan Province, China, the same region devastated by the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008
Retrospective and pre- and post-design studies have suggested that predisaster stressors, predisaster psychopathology, and the severity of disaster exposure are important risk factors for post-disaster mental health problems (Silver et al, 2002; Papanikolaou et al, 2011; Tracy et al, 2011; Fergusson et al, 2014; Caramanica et al, 2015; Bromet et al, 2017)
Following the 2013 Ya’an earthquake, some studies have examined prevalence of mental health problems such as Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among children and adolescents affected by this earthquake (Zhang et al, 2015, 2016; Zhou et al, 2016)
Summary
A total of 858 adolescents were assessed in September, 2011 (3.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake, 1.5 years before Ya’an earthquake, T1) and April, 2013 (1 week after the Ya’an earthquake, T2). Participants’ Wenchuan earthquake experiences and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were assessed at T1, and their Ya’an earthquake experiences, Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), PTSD, and depression were assessed at T2
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