Disaster preparedness: Relationships among prior experience, personal characteristics, and distress

At the peak of a hurricane watch and warning, participants completed a questionnaire asking about their prior experience with a hurricane (property loss and distress), and their degree of preparation, perceived threat, and distress when threatened by Hurricane Emily (Study 1) or Hurricane Fran (Study 2). In Study 1, age, income, internal locus of control, perceived threat, and current distress predicted preparation. Among participants with hurricane experience, age and distress as a result of the hurricane accounted for a significant portion of preparation variance. In Study 2, age, perceived threat, and hurricane experience predicted preparation. The findings support both the conservation of resources stress model (Hobfoll, 1989) and the warning and response model (Lindell & Ferry, 1992). Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.