Do current smokers use more cigarettes and become more dependent on nicotine because of psychological distress after a natural disaster?

Natural disasters increase nicotine dependence and cigarette consumption, but the exact mechanisms and conditions responsible for this increase are relatively unclear. This study explored whether posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms were pathways to increased nicotine dependence and cigarette consumption after disaster exposure using a representative sample of current smokers who were living in New Orleans at the time Hurricane Katrina struck (n = 175), and a comparison sample of smokers from Memphis (n = 222) who were not directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina. We assessed whether nicotine dependence and daily cigarette consumption differed by city and evaluated potential mediators and moderators of this association using conditional process analysis.

Are posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms pathways to smoking relapse after a natural disaster?

Background: Smoking relapse is rarely examined in disaster research. Thus, this study investigated smoking relapse nine and eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina and identified pathways and conditions for this outcome.

Methods: The data came from a prospective study of adult ever smokers who were living in New Orleans at the time Hurricane Katrina struck (n = 1003), and a comparison sample of Memphis residents (n = 1001) who were not directly impacted by the hurricane.

Race differences in depression vulnerability following Hurricane Katrina.

Objective: This study investigated whether racial disparities in depression were present after Hurricane Katrina.

Method: Data were gathered from 932 New Orleans residents who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and who returned to New Orleans the following year. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated racial differences in screening positive for depression (a score ≥16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), and explored whether differential vulnerability (prehurricane physical and mental health functioning and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support moderated and/or reduced the association of race with depression.

Racial Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Vulnerability Following Hurricane Katrina Among a Sample of Adult Cigarette Smokers from New Orleans.

Although blacks are more likely than whites to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a natural disaster, the reasons for this disparity are unclear. This study explores whether race is associated with PTSD after adjusting for differences in preexisting vulnerabilities, exposure to stressors, and loss of social support due to Hurricane Katrina using a representative sample of 279 black and white adult current and past smokers who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and identified it as the most traumatic event in their lifetime. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated whether differential vulnerability (pre-hurricane physical and mental health functioning, and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support deterioration reduced the association of race with PTSD.

Factor structure and reliability of the childhood trauma questionnaire and prevalence estimates of trauma for male and female street youth.

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire short form (CTQ-SF) with street youth who have run away or been expelled from their homes (N = 397). Internal reliability coefficients for the five clinical scales ranged from .65 to .

Demographic and childhood environmental predictors of resilience in a community sample.

Scientific investigation of resilient responses to stress and trauma has the potential to inform models of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of stress-related psychiatric disorders (e.g. posttraumatic stress disorder).

Cultural sensitivity in screening adults for a history of childhood abuse: evidence from a community sample.

Background: A number of practice guidelines and recommendations call for the assessment of childhood abuse history among adult medical patients. The cultural sensitivity of screening questions, however, has not been examined.

Objective: To assess whether questions that inquire about childhood abuse history function differently for black and white patients.

An evaluation of screening questions for childhood abuse in 2 community samples: implications for clinical practice.

Background: A number of practice guidelines and recommendations call for the assessment of childhood abuse in adult medical patients, but none specifies how best to do this. The objective of this study was to use evidence from 2 community-based population samples to evaluate abuse-screening questions that are often asked in medical clinics and to identify a small set of questions to improve screening practices.

Methods: The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) was administered in 2 randomized telephone interview surveys with adults aged 18 to 65 years.

Reflections on 20 years of research on violence and trauma.

This article is part of a special issue reflecting on what people have learned about violence and trauma over the past 20 years and where we need to go in the next 10 years. The author emphasizes the importance of learning to communicate in order to form effective community partnerships. Evidence-based research is noted as a methodological innovation for policy research.

Prevalence and demographic correlates of childhood maltreatment in an adult community sample.

Purpose: This study had two aims: (1) to determine the prevalence of five categories of retrospectively reported childhood maltreatment in an adult community sample and (2) to examine relationships between three theoretically and practically chosen demographic variables and childhood maltreatment.

Method: Participants were a representative sample of 967 adult men and women in the metropolitan Memphis, Tennessee area. They completed a telephone survey that included a reliable, valid questionnaire assessing five types of childhood maltreatment (i.

Approval of violence by males in western Canada.

Violent and defensive attitudes were surveyed in a sample of 1,010 males in western Canada.

Prevalence of dissociative experiences in a community sample: relationship to gender, ethnicity, and substance use.

This study examined the relationship between gender, ethnicity, substance use, and dissociation in a community sample of adults. Telephone interviews were conducted using, among others, measures of dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon [DES-T]) and alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT]) to screen a representative sample of 1007 adults in Memphis, Tennessee. Six percent of respondents endorsed four or more lifetime dissociative symptoms, whereas approximately one third of respondents endorsed at least one symptom.