Addressing Disaster Exposure Measurement Issues With Latent Class Analysis

Disaster exposure can put survivors at greater risk for subsequent mental health (MH) problems. Within the field of disaster MH research, it is important to understand how the choice of analytic approaches and their implicit assumptions may affect results when using a disaster exposure measure. We compared different analytic strategies for quantifying disaster exposure and included a new analytic approach, latent class analysis (LCA), in a sample of parents and youth. Following exposure to multiple floods in Texas, a sample of 555 parents and 486 youth were recruited. Parents were predominantly female (70.9%) and White (60.8%). Parents were asked to have their oldest child between the ages of 10 and 19 years old participate (M = 13.74 years, SD = 2.57; 52.9% male). Participants completed measures on disaster exposure, posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. The LCA revealed four patterns of exposure in both parents and youth: high exposure (15.5% parent, 9.5% child), moderate exposure (19.8% parent, 28.2% child), community exposure (45.9% parent, 34.4% child), and low exposure (18.8% parent, 27.8% child). In terms of MH, there were similarities across analytic approaches, but the LCA highlighted a threshold effect, with the high exposure class doing worse than all others, d = 1.12. These results have important implications in understanding the different exposure experiences of survivors and the linkage to MH outcomes. The findings are also informative in the development and use of screening tools used in postdisaster contexts in determining who may or may not need MH services. Resumen Spanish s by Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático (ACET) Abordando los Problemas de Medición de la Exposición a los Desastres con un Análisis de Clases Latentes ABORDANDO LA MEDICION DE LA EXPOSICION A DESASTRES La exposición a los desastres puede poner a los sobrevivientes en un riesgo más alto de posteriores problemas de salud mental (SM). En el campo de investigación de la SM sobre desastres, es importante entender como la elección de perspectivas analíticas y sus supuestos implícitos podrían afectar los resultados cuando se usa una medida de exposición al desastre. Comparamos estrategias analíticas diferentes para cuantificar la exposición al desastre e incluimos una perspectiva analítica nueva, análisis de clase latente (LCA en sus siglas en inglés), en una muestra de padres y jóvenes. Luego de la exposición a numerosas inundaciones en Texas, se reclutó una mue