Social organizational stressors and post-disaster mental health disturbances: A longitudinal study
van der Velden,P.G. Bosmans,M.W.G. Bogaerts,S. van Veldhoven,M.J.P.M.
van der Velden,P.G.
Bosmans,M.W.G.
Bogaerts,S.
van Veldhoven,M.J.P.M.
Abstract
Social organizational stressors are well-known predictors of mental health disturbances (MHD). However, to what extent these stressors predict post-disaster MHD among employed victims hardly received scientific attention and is clearly understudied. For this purpose we examined to what extent these stressors independently predict MHD 1.5 years post-disaster over and above well-known risk factors such as disaster exposure, initial MHD and lack of general social support, life-events in the past 12 months and demographics (N=423). Exposure, social organizational stressors and support were significantly associated with almost all examined mental health disturbances on a bi-variate level. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that these stressors, i.e. problems with colleagues, independently predicted anxiety (Adj. OR=5.93), depression (Adj. OR=4.21), hostility (Adj. OR=2.85) and having two or more mental health disturbances (Adj. OR=3.39) in contrast to disaster exposure. Disaster exposure independently predicted symptoms of PTSD symptoms (Adj. OR=2.47) and agoraphobia (Adj. OR=2.15) in contrast to social organizational stressors. Importantly, levels of disaster exposure were not associated nor correlated with (levels of) social organizational stressors. Findings suggest that post-disaster mental health care programs aimed at employed affected residents, should target social organizational stressors besides disaster-related stressors and lack of general social support. Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Disaster, Hostility, Organizational stress, PTSD, Social support
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2014
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van der Velden, P G, Bosmans, M W G, Bogaerts, S & van Veldhoven, M J P M 2014, 'Social organizational stressors and post-disaster mental health disturbances : A longitudinal study', Psychiatry Research, vol. 219, no. 1, pp. 177-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.05.032