Teen Dating Violence and Substance Use Following a Natural Disaster: Does Evacuation Status Matter?
Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Journal of Disaster Medicine
Abstract
Objectives
In September of 2008 the Texas coast was directly hit by Hurricane Ike. Galveston was flooded by 14 feet of storm surge, affecting most of the Island’s housing and infrastructure. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether youth who did not evacuate (11%), and subsequently were exposed to Hurricane Ike, exhibit higher rates of substance use and physical and sexual teen dating violence (both perpetration and victimization), relative to adolescents who did evacuate.
Setting
Public high school in southeast Texas that was in the direct path of Hurricane Ike.
Participants
An anonymous survey was administered in March 2009 to 1,048 high-school students who returned to Galveston post-storm (41% Hispanic, 23% African-American, 27% White).
Main Outcome Measures
Teen dating violence and substance use.
Results
Mantel-Haenszel odds ratios, adjusting for age and ethnicity, were computed. Compared to boys who evacuated, non-evacuating boys were more likely to perpetrate physical dating violence and sexual assault, and to be a victim of sexual assault. Non-evacuating boys and girls were more likely than those who did evacuate to report recent use of excessive alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.
Conclusions
School personnel, medical personnel, and mental health service providers should consider screening for evacuation status in seeking to identify those adolescents who most need services after a natural disaster. Further, in addition to addressing internalized emotions and psychological symptoms associated with experiencing trauma, intervention programs should focus on reducing externalized behavior such as substance use and teen dating violence.
Description
item.page.type
Article
item.page.format
Keywords
dating violence, adolescents, natural disaster, substance abuse, survey
Citation
Temple, J. R., van den Berg, P., John, F., Northcutt, J., Thomas, C., & Freeman Jr, D. H. (2011). Teen dating violence and substance use following a natural disaster: does evacuation status matter?. American journal of disaster medicine, 6(4), 201.