Impact of Hurricane Rita on Adolescent Substance Use

Little systematic research attention has been devoted to the impact of natural disasters on adolescent substance use. The present study examined relationships among exposure to Hurricane Rita, post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and changes in adolescent substance use from 13 months pre-disaster to seven and 19 months post-disaster. Subjects were 280 high school students in southwestern Louisiana who participated in a drug abuse prevention intervention trial prior to the hurricane. Two-thirds of participants were female and 68% were white. Students completed surveys at baseline (13 months pre-hurricane) and two follow-ups (seven and 19 months post-hurricane). Results indicated a positive bivariate relationship between PTS symptoms, assessed at 7 months post-hurricane, and increases in alcohol (p < .05) and marijuana use (p < .10) from baseline to the 7 months post-hurricane follow-up. When these associations were examined collectively with other hurricane-related predictors in multivariate regression models, PTS symptoms did not predict increases in substance use. However, objective exposure to the hurricane predicted increases in marijuana use, and post-hurricane negative life events predicted increases in all three types of substance use (ps <. 10). These findings suggest that increased substance use may be one of the behaviors that adolescents exhibit in reaction to exposure to hurricanes.