The Deepwater Horizon oil spill and factors associated with depressive symptoms among residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: A path analysis
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to extend prior research on the psychological effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster by developing and testing a conceptual model in which exposure to the oil spill through clean-up activity, physical symptoms, worry about the impact of the oil spill on health, and the disruption of the gulf/ocean-related lifestyle were hypothesized as predictors of depressive symptoms.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis included a randomly selected sample of 354 subjects from the three most Southern Mississippi counties. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms.
Findings
Results indicated that physical symptoms since the oil spill were related to depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through worry about the impact of the oil spill on health and the disruption of the gulf/ocean-related lifestyle. Worry about the impact of the oil spill on health was related to depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through the disruption of the gulf/ocean-related lifestyle.
Originality/value
Study results highlight that uncertainty and worry about the impact of the disaster played a critical role in understanding the psychological effects of the oil spill disaster, especially among coastal residents whose lifestyles were bound up with the gulf/ocean.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grant from Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP). This support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors also acknowledge the support and contributions of Mississippi Integrated Health and Disaster Program (MIHDP) in the preparation of this paper. The authors also acknowledge contributions of Dr Bandana Kar, Dr David Cochran, and the Geo-Informatics and Hazards Research Lab (GHRL) at the University of Southern Mississippi on producing the map included in this paper.
Citation
Lee, J., Rehner, T., Choi, H., Bougere, A. and Osowski, T. (2016), "The Deepwater Horizon oil spill and factors associated with depressive symptoms among residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: A path analysis", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 534-549. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-01-2016-0014
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited