SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF DISASTER RECOVERY

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The purpose of this application is to extend our research on Hurricane Andrew, which was initiated by means of a RAPID grant from NIMH. Funding is sought for (a) conducting follow-up interviews with the RAPID sample, a purposive sample numbering 400, and (b)conducting concurrent interviews with two probability samples of comparable size, one drawn from the stricken area and one not. The research aims concern the influence of social and cultural factors on postdisaster community life. Hypothesis 1 is that disasters initially mobilize support: The support received by the RAPID sample over a 2-month interval immediately following the hurricane will exceed that received by the same sample or by either of the two normative samples over a comparable interval of time 2 years later. Outsiders will be the source most uniquely relied upon by disaster victims, although kin support may be most frequent in absolute terms. Hypothesis 2 is that disasters subsequently deplete social support: At 6 months, the RAPID sample will report more social disruption and less perceived support than will an unstricken normative sample. Victims who received the least support will perceive this depletion most profoundly. Hypothesis 3 is that social support will eventually be restored: At 2 years, the RAPID sample will report less disruption and more perceived support than the same sample at 6 months and will report neither more nor less disruption and support than the normative samples. The RAPID sample was drawn so that Blacks, Latinos, and Whites were all equally represented. Hypothesis 4 is that there will be differential social impact across these ethnic groups: Minority respondents will receive less support, perceive less support, and experience more social disruption over the first 6 months than will comparably exposed majority respondents. Similarly, Hypothesis 5 is that there will be differential psychological impact across ethnic groups: Effects of specific disaster stressors, such as injury or loss, on symptoms observed at 6 months will be stronger among minority respondents than among majority respondents. Hypothesis 6 is that there will be differential recovery across ethnic groups: Ethnic differences in distress will become more rather than less pronounced over time. These differences will be explained in terms of economic advantage, help-seeking comfort, acculturative stress, and culture-specific values and beliefs (collectivism, fatalism, spiritualism).