SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF DISASTER RECOVERY

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): This proposal is to continue research into the social and cultural dynamics of disaster recovery that was begun by studying the effects of Hurricane Andrew in a sample composed equally of Latinos, non-Hispanic Whites, and non-Hispanic Blacks. As part of that study, a Spanish language instrument with known psychometric properties was developed. The goal of the proposed study is to conduct a truly cross-cultural study by collecting data in Mexico following a disaster that can be compared to the data collected in the U.S. following Hurricane Andrew. Mexico provides a strikingly different cultural and economic context that will yield insights into disaster recovery in developing countries. Although the majority of disasters occur in the developing world, very little of the research has been situated there. The proposed project takes place in four phases. In Phase 1, survivors of past disasters will provide ethnographic data on the meaning and manifestation of the constructs to be studied. In Phase 2, samples representative of 3 cities in Mexico will provide epidemiologic data on other trauma, PTSD, depressive symptoms, and nervios. In Phase 3, victims of a recent disaster in Mexico will provide comparative data on the process of disaster recovery. In Phase 4, the same participants will provide longitudinal data on the timing of disaster recovery. Social, psychological, and material resources are hypothesized to mediate the relation between severity of trauma exposure and psychiatric outcomes. An ecological framework for the study of trauma is proposed that differentiates between invulnerable resources, those impervious to the effects of trauma, such as social class; vulnerable resources, those potentially damaged by trauma, such as appraised social, psychological, and material resources; and emergent resources, those that arise in response to trauma, such as received social support, coping efforts, and financial aid that serve to protect or replace the vulnerable resources. The research team combines expertise in stress and trauma, Latino culture, and Mexican society. The disciplines of clinical psychology, social psychology, community psychology, social anthropology, and medical anthropology are represented. Two members of the team have previously conducted survey research in Mexico. Collaborative relationships between the applicant organization and researchers at the University of Guadalajara and at the National Institute of Anthropology in Oaxaca have been established.