Natural Disasters, Psychosocial Distress, Psychological Flexibility, and Satisfaction with Life

Although common, natural disasters (NDs) remain little studied, and their aggregate psychological impact is unknown. No aggregate measure of ND exposure could be located. This study reports the development and preliminary validation of the Natural Disaster Scale (NDS). In a sample of 131 US adults, disaster exposure was measured for NDs, for childhood and adult human disasters, for psychological flexibility, and for social support. Criteria included general distress, simple and complex PTSD, and life satisfaction. The NDS showed good internal consistency. Eleven of thirteen items loaded on a single factor. After controlling demographic factors, social support, and psychological flexibility, the NDS predicted general distress, simple PTSD, and satisfaction with life. In comparison, adult human adversity/disaster predicted general distress and simple PTSD, while childhood human adversity/disaster predicted complex PTSD and satisfaction with life. Similarly sized effects were found for human and natural disasters, except that only childhood adversity predicted complex PTSD. Demographic factors were insignificant except that age predicted life satisfaction. Because NDs may lead to distress, simple PTSD, and diminished life satisfaction, appraising lifelong exposure to NDs may be important for treatment. Those exposed to NDs may benefit from trauma-informed care. Fostering psychological flexibility, as proposed in the ACT therapy, is suggested as an important treatment focus for addressing the effects of human and natural disasters.