Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--More than half of Mississippi State students who evacuated their homes ahead of last year's Hurricane Katrina experienced psychological stress in the storm's aftermath, a new university study shows.
Nearly "one out of five" student evacuees experienced "severe" post traumatic stress disorder symptoms similar to those of many combat veterans, according to a report released recently by MSU's Social Science Research Center.
The report notes 54.4 percent of MSU student evacuees experienced psychological stress and 18.5 percent suffered severe PSTD symptoms.
More than a third (36.2 percent) of MSU students who had family or friends flee the Aug. 29, 2005, storm experienced psychological stress, and 10.3 percent of those students suffered severe symptoms of PSTD, the report adds.
A month after Katrina destroyed the Mississippi Gulf Coast and cut a northeasterly swath through the state, 2.5 percent said they were still missing family members or close friends. Also, 5.3 percent said someone close to them was either killed or seriously injured during the storm.
"Findings suggest that MSU students who evacuated or who had family and friends evacuate experienced unwanted thoughts, dreams and recollections of Hurricane Katrina to a similar degree as persons affected by the (1989) Exxon Valdez Oil Spill," a team of SSRC researchers and visiting scholars from hard-hit New Orleans concluded.
Among MSU evacuees, 53.2 percent subsequently had problems concentrating, 43 percent felt constantly under strain, 34.2 percent had difficulty enjoying day-to-day activities, and 27.8 percent were "not playing a useful part in things."
SSRC director Art Cosby said the June 30, 2006, report, titled "Student Needs and Impacts Surrounding Katrina: A Survey of Mississippi State University Students," was designed to help MSU and other institutions of higher learning improve their policies and procedures in dealing with future disasters.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 30 college campuses sustained varying degrees of physical damage from the powerful Category 3 hurricane. Although Mississippi State is located approximately 230 miles inland from the storm's landfall, many of its students had family and friends living in severely impacted areas.
Some 3,140 respondents from the nearly 16,000-member student population were surveyed by the SSRC's cross-disciplinary Research Fellows team. From that pool, 163 students were listed as storm evacuees, 1,305 did not evacuate but knew friends or family who evacuated, and another 1,558 did not evacuate nor personally know anyone who did.
The SSRC team, led by MSU associate professor of psychology Virginia Fee, included several professors from the University of New Orleans, and Xavier and Loyola universities, also located in New Orleans. Displaced by Katrina, the visiting scholars also conducted Web-based surveys of students from their respective institutions.
"This document is a direct result of the collaborative efforts of academicians, both directly and indirectly affected by the disaster," said Fee.
Among other things, a majority of the MSU students reported being "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with the performance of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (58.3 percent), Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (57.4 percent) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (51.6 percent).
"On a positive note, more than 70 percent of the students reported being satisfied or very satisfied with MSU administration and faculty, the governor of Mississippi (Haley Barbour), the Red Cross, and other charities and local organizations," the report added.
The study determined that a "vast majority" of respondents (68.3 percent) indicated Mississippi State "did a good job" in helping prepare students for the hurricane's onslaught and in keeping them informed during the ensuing chaos.
The report, however, also noted:
"While student responses strongly supported the university Web site and mass e-mails during the pre- and post-event phases, they also revealed their ineffectiveness for relaying information during a hurricane event when power is lost. Thus, the university should consider using additional sources to disseminate disaster-related information."
The 11-member team included Fee and MSU colleagues John F. Edwards, Ginger W. Cross, Duane Gill, Elisabeth Wells-Parker, Wolfgang Frees, and Katie Lynch.
The visiting scholars included Ann Kops Edwards and Dennis McEwen from the University of New Orleans, John Marszalek of Xavier University of Louisiana, and Anthony Ladd of Loyola University of New Orleans.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Fee at 662-325-3782 or vef2@psychology.msstate.edu.