title: Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Gender as Moderators of the Influence of Hurricane Exposure on Physical Health Among Children and Youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the long-term influence of disaster exposure, parent-child relationship quality (PCRQ), and gender on child and youth physical health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parent-child dyads (N = 1,886) were randomly selected and interviewed approximately 18 months after Hurricane Georges hit Puerto Rico (1998), and reinterviewed 12 months later. The outcome variables were parent report of a global rating of children's physical health, and frequency of medical problems and medical visits in the past year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conservative analyses that accounted for a host of postdisaster health-relevant factors showed that hurricane exposure exerted detrimental influence on physical health at both 18 and 30 months after the event. The moderating role of PCRQ in the relation between hurricane exposure and physical health varied by gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disasters have long-term potential to influence the physical health of children and adolescents. PCRQ serves as resource but its role in the context of disasters is complex.
authors.affiliation: University of California Santa Barbara, efelix@education.ucsb.edu.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Felix
authors.affiliation: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Polish Academy of Sciences.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaniasty
authors.affiliation: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and.
authors.forename: Sukkyung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: University of Puerto Rico.
authors.forename: Glorisa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Canino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067697:Adolescent Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011647:Puerto Rico; D013315:Stress, Psychological
keywords: children; family; health; natural disaster; social support; youth.