title: Effects of pre- and post-Katrina nonviolent and violent experiences on male veterans' psychological functioning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Identifying individuals at risk for mental health problems after a disaster often involves assessing potentially traumatic exposures inherent to the disaster. Survivors of disasters also may have been exposed, both before and during the event, to trauma not directly related to the disaster. A substantial literature suggests exposure to interpersonal violence may have more severe negative outcomes than exposure to non-violent events; however, it is unclear whether violent vs nonviolent exposures before and during a disaster have differential effects on postdisaster psychological functioning.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the associations of violent and nonviolent exposures before and during Hurricane Katrina with postdisaster psychological functioning in a sample of male military veterans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Violent and nonviolent exposures post-Hurricane Katrina as well as pre-Katrina violent exposures were significantly associated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, panic, and generalized anxiety disorder more than 2 years after the storm. Moreover, veterans who reported violent exposures pre-Katrina were more than 4 times more likely to have reexperienced interpersonal violence during Katrina than those who did not report such exposures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest assessing disaster-specific experiences in addition to predisaster interpersonal violence may be important for identifying and triaging individuals at risk for postdisaster mental health problems.
authors: Baylor College of Medicine, USA. atharpn@cdc.gov
authors: Andra Teten
authors: AT
authors: Tharp
authors: Jennifer J
authors: JJ
authors: Vasterling
authors: Greer
authors: G
authors: Sullivan
authors: Xiaotong
authors: X
authors: Han
authors: Teri
authors: T
authors: Davis
authors: Elizabeth A
authors: EA
authors: Deitch
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Constans
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D058014:Veterans Health; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*