Abstract
(1) Background: The devastating Ms 7.1 earthquake struck Yushu city, China, in 2010, leading to serious consequences and damage in the central Tibetan Plateau. This study aimed to assess school adaptation and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of adolescent survivors five years after the Yushu earthquake. (2) Methods: A large-scale, school-based mental health survey was conducted 5 years after the earthquake among Tibetan students in the city of Yushu using the Adolescent’s School Adaptation Scale (ASAS) and the PTSD Checklist. (3) Results: A total of 1976 questionnaires were collected. A total of 30.7% of Tibetan adolescents had poor school adaptation and 19.5% were estimated as having probable PTSD. Logistic regression showed that females (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.60–0.89), senior students (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.39–0.59), and those who participated in post-disaster reconstruction (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.54–0.85) were less likely to have poor school adaptation, while a positive association was observed among those buried under a collapsed building (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.04–2.09) and those who experienced bereavement (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.27–2.45). Students who had experienced bereavement were also more likely to have PTSD (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.12–2.28). (4) Conclusions: The post-traumatic effects of the Yushu earthquake on Tibetan adolescents were severe and long-lasting. Sustainable long-term mental health services to help adolescents to restructure their mental health are necessary.
Highlights
The city of Yushu is the capital the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yu Shu and located in the southwest Qinghai province of China at an average altitude of 4493.4 meters with 100,000 inhabitants.The city was hit by an earthquake (Ms 7.1) in 2010, which caused the death of 2698 people and injured12,135 [1,2]
This study identifies that the prevalence of poor school adaptation among
Tibetan adolescents 5 years after the 2010 Yushu earthquake was 30.7%, and 19.5% of adolescents met the criteria on the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist
Summary
The city of Yushu is the capital the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yu Shu and located in the southwest Qinghai province of China at an average altitude of 4493.4 meters with 100,000 inhabitants.The city was hit by an earthquake (Ms 7.1) in 2010, which caused the death of 2698 people and injured12,135 [1,2]. The city of Yushu is the capital the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yu Shu and located in the southwest Qinghai province of China at an average altitude of 4493.4 meters with 100,000 inhabitants. The city was hit by an earthquake (Ms 7.1) in 2010, which caused the death of 2698 people and injured. It has been estimated that a minimum of 85% of houses were destroyed in Yushu county, Int. J. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4167; doi:10.3390/ijerph16214167 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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