Stress of Resources Lost: Examining the relationship between Post Traumatic Stress, Housing Damage, and Resource Use following Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy was one of the most devastating storms to strike New Jersey, leaving approximately 2.6 million residents without power, heat, or hot water, and damaging over 325,000 homes. The losses covered by insurance in New Jersey  are estimated at $7.8 billion, although that may represent only 20% of actual economic losses.  New Jersey residents sought alternative financial resources to rebuild, including public grant mechanisms, savings, credit, and loans.  The combination of such financial strains and hurricane-related housing damage are hypothesized to be associated with mental health distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  

Using data from the Sandy Child and Family Health (S-CAFH) study, a population study of 1,000 randomly sampled households exposed to the storm, this analysis examines the relationship between household damage, financial resources spent mitigating that damage, and post traumatic stress as measured by the Trauma Severity Questionnaire.

Logistic regression analyses indicate that damage is associated with higher odds of PTSD; however, this relationship is mediated by whether an individual had to spend their savings on home repairs or recovery.  Respondents who had to spend their savings were five times as likely to report PTSD as were those who did not have to access their savings, regardless of damage to the household.

Additional analyses on the impact of taking on debt to deal with recovery as well as applying for external funds to mitigate the costs of recovery are explored to explain the relationship between damage to one’s home, household economic burden, and disaster related trauma.