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Posttraumatic Adaptation after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: the Unique Role of Coping and Oil Contact on Community Members’ Stress

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Abstract

Background: After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in the U.S. Gulf Coast community rose quickly. Objective: With the chronic course of PTSS a concern, the current research investigated the usefulness of assessing oil contact as a way to identify community members with clinical levels of PTSS. Secondly, the study looked at differences between persons with oil contact and with no contact on posttraumatic stress and coping styles, as well as the relation between coping styles on posttraumatic stress. \Design: Using purposive sampling, community members (n = 213, 69.6 % women) from oil spill impacted areas were surveyed using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian and the Brief COPE. Method: Community members were grouped by self-reported contact with oil (contact n = 63; no contact n = 150). Results: Individuals who had direct contact with the oil reported higher levels of PTSS, as well as greater use of avoidant and problem-focused coping styles. Avoidant emotion-focused coping was more strongly related to posttraumatic stress than other coping styles. In addition, an interaction was observed such that use of this coping style exacerbated the effect of oil contact on PTSS. Conclusions: Individuals coming into contact with the oil form a high risk group. Additionally, coping behaviors requiring avoidance may need to be re-directed in conjunction with removing barriers that hinder posttraumatic adaptation.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the community members who participated on this study.

This research was supported through a SAMHSA State Emergency Response Grant awarded to the second author and the Alabama Department of Mental Health after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The second author was also supported by the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP) during the creation of this publication. The Outreach Program was developed jointly by BP and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee as part of the Deepwater Horizon Medical Benefits Class Action Settlement, which was approved by the U.S. District Court in New Orleans on January 11, 2013 and became effective on February 12, 2014. The Outreach Program is supervised by the court, and is funded with $105 million from the Medical Settlement.

Authors Contribution

JL-R conceptualized the study and collected the data. TB analyzed the data and prepared the first draft. SV also helped with data collection and analyses. All authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, 36688, USA

    Tyler Reed Bell & Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling

  2. Gulf Coast Behavioral Health and Resiliency Center, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, 36688, USA

    Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling

  3. Department of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA

    Sydney Jane Varner

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  1. Tyler Reed Bell
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  2. Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling
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Correspondence to Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling.

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Author TB, JLR, and SJ declare that he/she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained by all participants.

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The SAMHSA State Emergency Response Grant awarded to the third author.

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Bell, T.R., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. & Varner, S.J. Posttraumatic Adaptation after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: the Unique Role of Coping and Oil Contact on Community Members’ Stress. Curr Psychol 37, 302–312 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9513-4

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