Childhood Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Efforts to Cope After Hurricane Floyd

Abstract

The authors report on the level of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by fourth-grade children 6 months after Hurricane Floyd and describe the children's efforts to cope with their stress. All of the children they studied were directly affected by the hurricane, secondary to the destruction of their school by floodwaters. The homes of 37% of these children were also flooded. Ninety-five percent of the children experienced at least mild symptoms of PTSD, and 71% had symptoms that were moderate to very severe. Children who reported that their homes were flooded were 3 times more likely to report symptoms than those whose homes were not flooded, and the girls were twice as likely as the boys to report symptoms. The high PTSD prevalence rates are comparable to findings from other studies involving violence in which 94% of the victims reported experiencing symptoms. For further analyses, the authors used symptom clusters of hyperarousal, numbing/avoidance, and reexperiencing symptoms.

Index Terms:

• coping
• hyperarousal
• numbing/avoidance
• reexperiencing events
• posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carmen V. Russoniello

The first 4 authors are professors at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, where Dr Russoniello, Dr Skalko, and Dr McGhee are with the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, and Dr O'Brien is a professor of biostatistics in the School of Allied Health. Ms Bingham-Alexander is a social worker with Pattillo A+ Elementary School, Tarboro, North Carolina, and Ms Beatley, a graduate student at the time the research was completed, is with the Pitt County Mental Health Center in Greenville.