E-ISSN : 2733-4538
While most disaster survivors recover from the emotional impact of the event over time, some develop long-term psychological problems. Based on extant findings, this study was conducted to identify the long-term psychological symptoms of Gyeongbuk area earthquake survivors and the predictors of such symptoms. Posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms approximately 1 year following the earthquake, along with demographic variables, disaster-related variables, and, most importantly, individual psychological characteristic variables, were measured with self-report questionnaires in a sample of 195 residents of Gyeongju and Pohang. The proportion of survivors at high risk for posttraumatic stress and depression were 13.85% and 25.64%, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that posttraumatic stress symptoms were significantly predicted by physical injury of self, perceived life threat of self, and catastrophizing tendency. For depressive symptoms, employment, prior psychological problems, social support, negative affectivity, other-blame, and catastrophizing tendency were identified as significant predictors. These results suggest the importance of psychological factors in predicting the long-term psychological symptoms of earthquake survivors. Furthermore, the findings highlight the need to examine such predictors when delivering prevention and intervention programs that target long-term psychological symptoms following a disaster such as an earthquake.
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