title: Are older people more vulnerable to long-term impacts of disasters?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the growing interest in the study of disasters, there is limited research addressing the elderly population that lead to prejudiced beliefs that older adults are more vulnerable to disasters than younger adults. This study aimed to compare positive mental health between elderly and young earthquake survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this study, consisting of 324 earthquake survivors, were obtained from a population-based cross-sectional survey conducted in Iran, 2015. The long-term effect of earthquake was assessed using the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form questionnaire. A one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using SPSS (version 22) was used in data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older adults scored significantly a higher level of overall positive mental health (mean [M]=34.31, standard deviation [SD]=10.52) than younger age group (M=27.48, SD=10.56,t=-4.41;P<0.001). Results of MANCOVA revealed a statistically significant difference between older and young adults on the combined positive mental health subscales (F(3,317)=6.95;P<0.001), after controlling for marital status, sex, and employment status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings showing a higher level of positive mental health among elderly earthquake survivors compared with their younger counterparts in the wake of natural disasters suggest that advancing age per se does not contribute to increasing vulnerability.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Social Welfare Management, Department of Social Work.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rafiey
authors.affiliation: Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yadollah Abolfathi
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Momtaz
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Social Welfare Management, Department of Social Work.
authors.forename: Fardin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alipour
authors.affiliation: Department of Health in Emergency and Disaster, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khankeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Health in Emergency and Disaster, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shokoufeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Social Welfare Management, Department of Social Work.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabzi Khoshnami
authors.affiliation: Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sharifah Azizah
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Haron
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004190:Disasters / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055866:Earthquakes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aged; earthquakes; mental health; post-disaster; resiliency; vulnerability