| Title |
Stress and Cortisol in Disaster Evacuees: An Exploratory Study on Associations with Social Protective Factors
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, March 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10484-015-9270-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
David Javier Thompson, Inka Weissbecker, Elizabeth Cash, David M. Simpson, Meagan Daup, Sandra E. Sephton |
| Abstract |
Though cumulative emotional and physical effects of disasters may diminish evacuees' short and long-term mental and physical health, social factors may buffer such consequences. We approached survivors of the October 2007 San Diego, California firestorms. We gathered data during the evacuation and 3 months afterward. Questionnaires measured social support as well as PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Saliva samples were used to assess the stress hormone, cortisol. Analyses, adjusting for age, gender, and socioeconomic status, showed PTSD symptoms were associated with flattening of the diurnal cortisol rhythm during evacuation. Secondary analyses showed those reporting a family emphasis on moral and religious values had lower psychological distress. Though anxiety symptoms had significantly decreased in the overall sample at follow-up, blunted cortisol rhythms persisted among those individuals with continued high anxiety. Results highlight a possible psychological, and perhaps a physiological, benefit of social and existential factors in disaster situations. Future work should explore the role of psychosocial factors and stress physiology in the development of long-term health concerns among individuals exposed to disaster. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 109 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 109 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 16 | 15% |
| Student > Master | 13 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 12 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 8% |
| Researcher | 6 | 6% |
| Other | 24 | 22% |
| Unknown | 29 | 27% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 33 | 30% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 16 | 15% |
| Social Sciences | 8 | 7% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 8 | 7% |
| Neuroscience | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 10 | 9% |
| Unknown | 30 | 28% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 January 2016.
All research outputs
#14,906,966
of 23,849,058 outputs
Outputs from Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
#228
of 355 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#142,129
of 265,704 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
#6
of 12 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,849,058 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 355 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.1. This one is in the 33rd percentile – i.e., 33% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 12 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its contemporaries.