The 1997 Red River Valley Flood: Impact on marital relationships

This research note explores the deleterious social effects of the 1997 Red River Valley Flood on married couples from the Upper Great Plains cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Through in-depth interviews with husbands and wives (N = 10 couples), two major findings emerged: (1) the results indicate that the flood had a noticeable impact on marital relationships and the impact appeared to be mediated by the state of the couples' relationship prior to the flood. Strong pre-flood relationships emerged stronger in the aftermath while weak pre-flood relationships emerged weaker in the aftermath; and (2) at the time of the interview (five to eight months post-flood), the relationship of couples with little and total flood-related damage fared somewhat better than couples with moderate levels of flood-damage (e.g., flooded basements). The results are discussed relative to implications for disaster service providers.     

Women's roles in a disaster

In this study I examine women's roles in the 1997 Grand Forks flood. Based on field research and sixty in-depth interviews, I explore women's community, family, and work roles before, during, and after the disaster. By examining the ways in which women's roles shifted and the meanings the women attached to the roles, I find that the women experienced role accumulation, which resulted in an expansion of both their roles and their sense of self. By successfully performing the “greedy” family role, the emergent community role, and expanding work roles the women often discovered a new sense of confidence, self-worth, and competence.     

Risk of domestic violence after flood impact: Effects of social support,age, and history of domestic violence

Community professionals observed an increase in domestic violence during the aftermath of the 1997 Grand Forks flood. In the past, research has documented emotional symptoms which result from natural disaster, and separate studies have observed domestic violence to result from these same emotional symptoms. No research was found, however, specifically on the effects of natural disaster on domestic violence. The purpose of the current study was to test the effects of a model of variables on domestic violence, including flood impact, the emotional symptoms, as well as other intervening variables which might act as a buffer against the effects of flood impact. Results of this cross-sectional survey of 140 Grand Forks adults indicated that domestic violence was significantly greater among respondents after the flood. Flood impact led to increased levels of anxiety, depression, and hostility. Whether these emotional symptoms subsequently led to increased domestic violence depended on the level of social support, the age of the respondent, and whether he/she had a history of domestic violence before the flood. Those with lower social support, the elderly, and those with a prior history of violence were most affected. The results have implications for work with the elderly, with domestic violence treatment and prevention programs, and with communities affected by flood.     

Ethical and methodological issues in academic mental health research in populations affected by disasters: the Oklahoma City experience relevant to September 11, 2001

Empirical data from research studies are vital to guiding mental health interventions following disasters. However, few data are available for this purpose. Important advances in policy and procedures for the conduct of organized research emerged from the Oklahoma City bombing, yielding cooperative working relationships among researchers and culminating in the ethical attainment of informative research data. However, the academic community was again caught off guard after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Suggestions to surmount these obstacles include incorporating research infrastructures into disaster preparedness plans in advance; organizing the community of researchers; and working closely with major funding organizations. Methodological issues pertaining to measurement of psychopathology include the importance of obtaining diagnostic data; interpreting the meaning of symptoms in the absence of a psychiatric disorder; differentiating preexisting symptoms from those that emerged after the disaster, and optimal timing of postdisaster assessment.     

Children's Graffiti: Visual Communication from a Developmental Perspective

The graffiti of children, an unobtrusive measure collected in Puerto Rican natural settings, revealed the children's views about the world. Results show that these graffiti reflect a wide variety of content related to the child's immediate life experiences such as concerns with their self-identity, interpersonal relations, cultural understandings, sexuality, and religious and political beliefs.     

Posttraumatic Growth Among Australian Farming Women After a Flood

There has been limited research into the impact of disasters on farming women, although it has been suggested that this population can face certain physical, social, and economic disadvantages that affect their recovery. In this study, we explored the impact of the 2010–2011 floods in the state of Victoria in Australia on the lives of six farming women with 20-50+ years of farming experience. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed that the women experienced posttraumatic growth, transitioning from helplessness and emotional distress to acceptance and understanding. Although further research is needed, the findings suggest that engagement in meaningful activity contributed to these women’s recovery after the flood. This knowledge may be used to inform the delivery of services and resources in flood-prone rural areas. Highlights: Three themes emerged from the data (helplessness, adapting to change, and self-discovery); findings can be related to dimensions of posttraumatic growth; and engagement in meaningful activity appeared to facilitate positive change.     

Codependency: Addictive love,adjustive relating,or both?

The concept of codependency constitutes a controversial but, in our view, eminently researchable area of clinical concern. Following a perspective on the evolution of the concept, we summarize the currently dominant view that codependency is a personality syndrome closely akin to addictive love. We then present an alternative point of view that focuses on the characteristics of codependent relating rather than the characteristics of the codependent person, arguing that codependency may be either endogynous or exogynous. Recent efforts to develop valid measures of codependency as a personality predisposition and as a set of relationship characteristics are discussed, followed by the conclusion that the two assessment approaches are complementary rather than contradictory.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mike Dewald, Karin Parker, and Pam Quinn of the United Recovery Center, Grand Forks, ND, in some of the data collection.     

Emergent social identities in a flood: Implications for community psychosocial resilience

Although the mobilization of pre‐existing networks is crucial in psychosocial resilience in disasters, shared identities can also emerge in the absence of such previous bonds, due to survivors sharing a sense of common fate. Common fate seems to operate in sudden‐impact disasters (e.g., bombings), but to our knowledge, no research has explored social identity processes in “rising‐tide” incidents. We interviewed an opportunity sample of 17 residents of York, United Kingdom, who were involved in the 2015–2016 floods. Using thematic and discourse analysis, we investigated residents' experiences of the floods and the strategic function that invocations of community identities perform. We show how shared community identities emerged (e.g., because of shared problems, shared goals, perceptions of vulnerability, and collapse of previous group boundaries) and show how they acted as a basis of social support (both given and expected). The findings serve to further develop the social identity model of collective psychosocial resilience in rising‐tide disasters. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Bombing and burning: The social organization and values of hip hop graffiti writers and implications for policy∗

Almost twenty years ago, a stylistic kind of graffiti originated in New York City and has since spread to many major cities in the United States, Canada, and other industrialized nations. This type of graffiti, known as “Hip Hop” graffiti (HHG) outside of New York City, accounts for a large share of graffiti in U.S. urban areas. It is found on buses, subways, trains, buildings, bridges, and innumerable other surfaces and ranges from signature “tags,” typically written with ink marker or spray paint, to elaborate, polychrome spray‐painted murals. This article, based on ethnographic research conducted in Seattle, first introduces the types of HHG and the social characteristics of writers, and then focuses on writers’ social organization and values—the two key elements to understanding the proliferation of this graffiti. The paper concludes with several observations on social policies designed to curtail the production of graffiti.     

Best Friends

Abstract

Eighty-six adults participated in the present study of the relationships among selected predictors and responses to potential earthquake and flood hazard. Results indicated (a) that length of residence was the best predictor of perceived probability of earthquake occurrence, whereas no predictors were identified for flood probability; (b) that estimation of potential earthquake damage was related to perceived reliability of official support systems, number of damage reduction measures, and trait anxiety, whereas flood damage estimation was associated with flood expectation, perceived reliability of agencies, severity of previously experienced damages, and education; and (c) that trait anxiety and availability of safety items in the home accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in acknowledged anxiety in response to an earthquake prediction, whereas damage expectation and previously experienced damage emerged as predictors of acknowledged anxiety in response to a flood prediction.     

Sharing therapeutic experiences of place: Co-creative digital storytelling as a way to explore connection to place

This paper explores two seemingly diverse case studies that share stories of place through co-creative media digital storytelling practices. The co-creative media practice of digital storytelling is applied as a framework to extend the current understanding of community issues in their individual contexts. Case one applied digital storytelling as a tool to investigate aged-care residents' therapeutic landscape experience. In Case two, it explores local communities’ experience of flood and how digital storytelling was applied as a way to relieve trauma. This research adopts a comparative case studies methodology. With the two cases in very different contexts, common themes of “a sense of identity”, “memories and belonging” and “therapeutic narratives” emerged. Findings suggest digital storytelling enables social connection. It also engages with memories as narratives and is an effective way to recall significant experiences, in our research contexts, therapeutic experiences. Finally, digital storytelling as a co-creative practice is also a way to build resilience and contribute to co-creating places.     

Graffiti: A Precursor to Future Deviant Behavior during Adolescence?

This study examines if graffiti initiation leads to greater deviant behavior. Swedish students (N = 1,010) completed questionnaires in grades 7, 8, and 9 (aged 14 to 16 years). Students who initiated tagging or graffiti art in grade 8 consistently reported higher rates of deviant behavior 12 months later. However, graffiti initiation did not increase the likelihood of most behaviors after the effect of confounding factors from the individual, peer, and family domains were accounted for. The findings indicate that other confounding risk factors should be considered when understanding links between graffiti involvement and future criminality.     

Famously Anonymous Artistic Outlaws: The Negotiation of Dual Identities Among Former Graffiti Writers

Graffiti artists must establish a second, anonymous identity that is managed alongside each writer’s “real” self. This study explores the negotiation of these dual identities—one actual, the other virtual—by investigating the management of these identities through retirement. Results reveal that identity making is a collective practice, even for anonymous artists. Participants described a hierarchical graffiti world where invisible social relations are used to establish understanding of the self as a writer. Stealth graffiti artists breach one set of rules but strictly adhere to another set. Even anonymous identities are socially embedded and reflect a politics of belonging. Writer identities can be retired by either integrating them into a public self or transcended through complete role exit.     

The Role of Social Toxicity in Responses to a Slowly-Evolving Environmental Disaster: The Case of Amphibole Asbestos Exposure in Libby,Montana, USA

Experiencing a disaster has significant negative effects on psychological adjustment. Case study accounts point to two consistent trends in slowly-evolving environmental disasters: (a) patterns of negative social dynamics, and (b) relatively worse psychological outcomes than in natural disasters. Researchers have begun to explicitly postulate that the social consequences of slowly-evolving environmental disasters (e.g., community conflict) have their own effects on victims’ psychological outcomes. This study tested a model of the relationship between those social consequences and psychological adjustment of victims of a slowly-evolving environmental disaster, specifically those whose health has been compromised by the amphibole asbestos disaster in Libby, MT. Results indicate that experiencing greater community conflict about the disaster was associated with greater family conflict about the disaster which, in turn, was associated with greater social constraints on talking with others about their disease, both directly and indirectly through experiencing stigmatization. Experiencing greater social constraints was associated with worse psychological adjustment, both directly and indirectly through failed social support. Findings have implications for understanding pathways by which social responses create negative effects on mental health in slowly-evolving environmental disasters. These pathways suggest points for prevention and response (e.g., social support, stigmatization of victims) for communities experiencing slowly-evolving environmental disasters.     

Social Support Mobilization and Deterioration after Mexico’s 1999 Flood: Effects of Context, Gender, and Time

Samples of adults representative of Teziutlán, Puebla, and Villahermosa, Tobasco, were interviewed 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after the devastating 1999 flood and mudslides. The interview contained multiple measures of social support that had been normed for Mexico. Comparisons between sample data and population norms suggested minimal mobilization of received support and substantial deterioration of perceived support and social embeddedness. Social support was lowest in Teziutlán, which had experienced mass casualties and displacement, and among women and persons of lower educational attainment. Disparities according to gender, context, and education grew larger as time passed. The results provide compelling evidence that the international health community must be mindful of social as well as psychological functioning when disasters strike the developing world.     

Gobal-local precedence in picture processing

Summary Previous investigations of the global precedence hypothesis (Navon, 1977) have utilized compound letter stimuli. In these stimuli there is no predictive relationship between the global and local levels. Pictorial stimuli, however, contain mutually predictable global and local levels. This study investigated the global precedence hypothesis with pictorial stimuli using a Stroop-like interference task similar to that used by Navon. Subjects were required to respond either to the global (e.g., beach or farm) or local (e.g., boat or tractor) level of a scene. The display size and consistency of the global and local levels were varied. Response latencies supported global precedence for small scenes (4°) but local precedence for large scenes (16°). The results are interpreted by a model in which the priority of processing is determined by a critical spatial frequency sampling bandwidth.Portions of this research were presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, November, 1982. The authors with to express their sincere appreciation to Tom Petros for his assistance in data analysis. Requests for reprints should be addressed to James R. Antes, Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202.     

Anger in Wikipedia: Perceived intentionality and threat appraisal as mediators of anger about man‐made attacks

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia has established strict guidelines for the objectivity of content. At the same time, Wikipedia includes articles on negative events, such as disasters or man‐made attacks. These events can elicit strong emotions, which in turn may spill over into Wikipedia articles. Previous research has shown that Wikipedia articles on man‐made attacks contain more anger‐related content than Wikipedia articles on disasters. Building on these findings, we aimed to investigate whether the threat that Wikipedia authors experience when they learn of an attack is relevant as a factor in explaining the anger effect. Threat is known to elicit active and engaged reactions, such as anger, which is why it is a likely explaining factor. Our research also aimed to replicate the findings from the linguistic analysis of the Wikipedia articles using controlled scenario‐based laboratory experiments. Three studies demonstrated that man‐made attacks (terrorist attack, shooting rampage) elicited more threat, more anger, and more expressions of anger‐related content in Wikipedia texts than nature‐made disasters (earthquake, flood) and man‐made disasters (train accident). Moreover, threat was relevant as a factor in explaining the effects on anger and anger‐related content in the Wikipedia texts. These mediations could be explained by the perceived intentionality of the event. This research highlights the findings that perceived intentionality and threat are relevant mediating factors for feelings and expressions of anger after man‐made attacks.