Post-Disaster Mental Health Among Parent–Child Dyads After a Major Earthquake in Indonesia

The interdependent adjustment of children and their parents following disasters has been well documented. We used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to provide an appropriate analytical framework for examining how family members may contribute to each other’s post-disaster mental health. Independent self-reports were collected from parent–child dyads (n = 397) residing in a rural community in Indonesia that was devastated by a major earthquake. Elementary school children (M = 10 years; 51 % female) and one of their parents (M = 41 years; 73 % female) each reported on their disaster exposure, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and general distress. The APIM was used to examine mental health within dyads and moderation by gender across dyads. Children reported lower disaster exposure and fewer PTS symptoms, but similar general distress levels, as their parents. Children’s and parents’ disaster-specific PTS symptoms were the strongest predictor of their own general distress. Parents’ PTS symptoms were associated with children’s general distress (b = 0.14, p < 0.001), but children’s PTS symptoms were not associated with parents’ general distress (b = −0.02, p > 0.05). Findings were not moderated by parents’ or children’s gender. Although children and parents may respond differently to natural disasters, they may be best understood as a dyad. APIM analyses provide new evidence suggesting a unidirectional path of influence from parents’ disaster-related symptomatology to children’s general mental health. Dyadic approaches to understanding mental health and treating symptoms of distress among disaster survivors and their families following trauma are encouraged

Post-Disaster Mental Health Among Parent–Child Dyads After a Major Earthquake in Indonesia

The interdependent adjustment of children and their parents following disasters has been well documented. We used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to provide an appropriate analytical framework for examining how family members may contribute to each other’s post-disaster mental health. Independent self-reports were collected from parent–child dyads (n = 397) residing in a rural community in Indonesia that was devastated by a major earthquake. Elementary school children (M = 10 years; 51 % female) and one of their parents (M = 41 years; 73 % female) each reported on their disaster exposure, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and general distress. The APIM was used to examine mental health within dyads and moderation by gender across dyads. Children reported lower disaster exposure and fewer PTS symptoms, but similar general distress levels, as their parents. Children’s and parents’ disaster-specific PTS symptoms were the strongest predictor of their own general distress. Parents’ PTS symptoms were associated with children’s general distress (b = 0.14, p < 0.001), but children’s PTS symptoms were not associated with parents’ general distress (b = −0.02, p > 0.05). Findings were not moderated by parents’ or children’s gender. Although children and parents may respond differently to natural disasters, they may be best understood as a dyad. APIM analyses provide new evidence suggesting a unidirectional path of influence from parents’ disaster-related symptomatology to children’s general mental health. Dyadic approaches to understanding mental health and treating symptoms of distress among disaster survivors and their families following trauma are encouraged

An evaluation study of youth participation in youth work: a case study in Southern Italy

In this paper an evaluation study of a public programme that financed a regional network of 157 youth centres in the South of Italy was presented. A theory-based evaluation model was adopted to explore the causal links between different kind of participation experiences. Evaluation questions focused on three main issues: the empowerment perception of the team during the management of the centres; the empowering effect of participation in the organization of the youth centre; and the decision making abilities of the young people involved. After an exploratory study, an on-line structured questionnaire has been administered to all the centres. New youth centres appear as striving to become sustainable enterprises. However, there is a common difficulty to integrate day to day management and sustainability strategies. This difficulty is lower when project leaders participated in the design of the centres together with other young people. Thus, results confirmed that participation in the design was an empowering experience. However, this study warns against some unwanted effects of the participation. For instance, participation processes was a form of decorative consultation for half of the cases. Therefore, empirical evidence suggests further research to focus on the creation of stable participation structures inside the centres to avoid the risk of participation processes without a real effect on decisions