Social support and psychological symptomatology following a natural disaster

✍ Scribed by Jerome D. Cook; Leonard Bickman

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 802 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.2490030406

✦ Synopsis

The effects of perceived availability of social support on psychological symp tomatology following a natural disaster were studied in a sample of victims of a major flood in Roanoke, Virginia. Ninety-six subjects were administered questionnaires that measured self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, and somatization 1 week after the disaster and four additional times within 6 months after the disaster. A questionnaire mailed 3 months after the disaster assessed perceived availability of social support. Results indicated that subjects experienced severe distress immediately following the disaster, that this distress decreased sharply 6 weeks after the flood, and decreased more gradually in the follo wing months. Perceived availability of social support was not related to distress immediately following the disaster nor 5 months afterwards. Social support and symptomatology were significantly correlated during the intermediate period.