Placing Age Differences in Cultural Context: A Comparison of the Effects of Age on PTSD After Disasters in the United States, Mexico, and Poland

Abstract

Criterion symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were measured 6–12 months after Hurricane Andrew in the United States (non-Hispanic n = 270), Hurricane Paulina in Mexico (n = 200), and the 1997 flood in Poland (n = 285), using English, Spanish, and Polish versions of the Revised Civilian Mississippi Scale. The samples ranged in age from 18 to 88. Linear and quadratic effects of age were tested by using hierarchical multiple regression, with the effects of gender, trauma, and education controlled. Among Americans, age had a curvilinear relation with PTSD such that middle-aged respondents were most distressed. Among Mexicans, age had a linear and negative relation with PTSD such that younger people were most distressed. Among Poles, age had a linear and positive relation with PTSD such that older people were most distressed. Thus, there was no one consistent effect of age; rather, it depended upon the social, economic, cultural, and historical context of the disaster-stricken setting.