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Home / Research / Research Centers / Center for Studies of Displaced Populations / Center for Studies of Displaced Populations Project 1: RISK

CSDP Project 1: RISK

Resilience in Survivors of Katrina Project (RISK) 

Lead: Mary Waters, Ph.D.

RISK is a longitudinal study of low-income parents who lived in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Starting in 2003, 1,019 low-income parents from New Orleans enrolled in a study designed to increase educational attainment among community college students. The study measured participants’ economic status, social ties, and mental and physical health. Since the hurricane, two follow-up surveys and two sets of in-depth qualitative interviews have been conducted with study participants, regardless of where they moved after the hurricane at one year and five years post disaster. Early research based on these data has provided new insights into the short- and medium-term consequences of natural disasters for mental health and the role of economic and social factors in promoting resilience and recovery for this uniquely-affected population. The study includes a new wave of data collection for RISK that will help to discern long term trajectories of and differentials in recovery for this cohort as well as for the other primary data collection projects.

Further information about the project can be found at www.riskproject.org/

List of publications

Physical & Mental Health Outcomes
  1. Arcaya, Mariana, Peter James, Jean E. Rhodes, Mary C. Waters, S.V. Subramanian, Urban sprawl and body mass index among displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors, Preventive Medicine, Volume 65, August 2014, Pages 40-46.
  2. Chan, C., Rhodes J. (2014) Measuring Exposure in Hurricane Katrina: A Meta-Analysis and an Integrative Data Analysis. PLoS ONE 9(4): e92899. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092899.
  3. Fussell, Elizabeth and Sarah R. Lowe (2014). The impact of housing displacement on the mental health of low-income parents after Hurricane Katrina. Social Science and Medicine 113, 137-144.
  4. Calvo, Rocio, Mariana Arcaya, Christopher F. Baum, Sarah R. Lowe and Mary C. Waters (2014). Happily Ever After? Pre and Post Disaster Determinants of Happiness Among Survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Happiness Studies.
  5. Chan, C. & Rhodes J. (2013). Disaster exposure and its short and long term mental health impact on Hurricane Katrina survivors. (Manuscript in preparation).
  6. Lowe, S. R., Willis, M., & Rhodes, J. E. (2013, December 2). Health problems among low-income parents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Health Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/hea0000016
  7. Bosick, Stacey. (2013). Pushed out on my own: The impact of Hurricane Katrina in the lives of low income emerging adults. (Manuscript under review).
  8. Lowe, S.R., & Rhodes, J. (2013). Trajectories of psychological distress among low-income, female survivors of Hurricane Katrina. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83, 398-412. doi: 10.1111/ajop.12019
  9. Paxson, C., Fussell, E., Rhodes, J., Waters, M. (2012). Five years later: Recovery from post traumatic stress and psychological distress among low-income mothers affected by Hurricane Katrina. Social Science & Medicine, 74, 150-157.
  10. Chan, C. S., Rhodes, J. E., & Perez, J. E. (2011). A prospective study of religiousness and psychological distress among female survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 168-181.
  11. Lowe, S. R., Chan, C. S., & Rhodes, J. E. (2011). The impact of child-related stressors on the psychological functioning of lower-income mothers after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Family Issues, 32, 1303-1324. doi: 10.1177/0192513X11412492.
  12. Lowe, S. R., Lustig, K., & Marrow, H. B. (2011). African American women’s reports of racism during Hurricane Katrina: Variation by interviewer race. New School Psychology Bulletin, 8, 46-57. Retrieved from nspb.net
  13. Rhodes, J. E., Chan, C. S., Paxson, C., Rouse, C. E., Waters, M., & Fussell, E. (2010). The impact of Hurricane Katrina on the mental and physical health of low-income parents in New Orleans. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80, 237-247.
  14. Zwiebach, L., Rhodes, J., Roemer, L. (2010). Resource Loss, Resource Gain, and Mental Health Among Survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 23, No. 6, December 2010, pp. 751–758.
  15. Lowe, S. R., Rhodes, J. E., Zwiebach, L., & Chan, C. S. (2009). The impact of pet loss on perceived social support and psychological distress among Hurricane Katrina survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22, 244-247.
  16. Paxson, C., & Rouse, C. (2008). Returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. American Economic Review, 98(2): 38-42. doi: 10.1257/aer.98.2.38
Residential Mobility
  1. Arcaya, Mariana, S.V. Subramanian, Jean E. Rhodes, and Mary C. Waters. 2014. “Role of health in predicting moves to poor neighborhoods among Hurricane Katrina survivors.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (46), 16246-16253.
  2. Asad, Asad L. (2015). Contexts of Reception, Post-Disaster Migration, and Socioeconomic Mobility. Population and Environment 36(3): 279-310.
  3. Fussell, E., & Harris, E. (in press). “Homeownership and Vulnerability to Housing Displacement after Hurricane Katrina.”
  4. Fussell, E., &, Lowe, S.R. 2014. “The Impact of Housing Displacement on Mental Health among Low-Income Parents after Hurricane Katrina.” Social Science & Medicine 113: 137-144.
  5. Graif, Corina. Moving to Opportunity in the Wake of Disaster: From Spatial Displacement to Neighborhood Attainment (under review).
Social Support
  1. Lowe, S. R., Rhodes, J. E., & Scoglio, A. A. (2012). Changes in marital and partner relationships in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina an analysis with low-income women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36(3), 286-300.
  2. Lowe, S. R., Chan, C. S., & Rhodes, J. E. (2010). Pre-hurricane perceived social support protects against psychological distress: A longitudinal analysis of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 551-560.
  3. Lowe, S.R., Rhodes, J., Zweibach, L., & Chan, C. (2009). The impact of pet loss on perceived social support and psychological distress of Hurricane survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22, 244.
Child Outcomes
  1. Lowe, S. R., Godoy, L., Rhodes, J. E., & Carter, A. S. (2013). Predicting mothers’ reports of children’s mental health three years after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 34(1), 17-27.
  2. Lowe, S.R., Chan, C.S. & Rhodes, J. (2011). The impact of child related stressors on the psychological functioning of lower-income mothers after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Family Issues, 32, 1303-1324.
Methodology
  1. Lowe, S., Green, G., & Rhodes (2012). What can multi-wave studies teach us about disaster research?: An analysis of low-income Hurricane Katrina survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25, 299-306.
Education and Economic Outcomes
  1. 28. Lowe, S. R. & Rhodes, J. (2012). Community college re-enrollment after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of College Student Retention. 14, 229-251.
Post-traumatic Growth
  1. Lowe, S. R., Manove, E. E., & Rhodes, J. E. (2013). Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 81, 877-889.
  2. Chan, C. & Rhodes, J. (2013). Religious coping, posttraumatic stress, psychological distress, and posttraumatic growth among female survivors four years after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26, 257-265.
Gene x Environment
  1. Dunn, E. C., Solovieff, N., Lowe, S. R., Gallagher, P. J., Chaponis, J., Rosand, J., . . . Smoller, J. W. (2014). Interaction between genetic variants and exposure to Hurricane Katrina on post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth: A prospective analysis of low income adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 152, 243-249.

Contacts

Harvard University
Principal Investigator: Mary C. Waters
Contact: asad@fas.harvard.edu
Department of Sociology, William James Hall 33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
 
University of Massachusetts
Boston Principal Investigator: Jean Rhodes
Contact: elyssa.weber001@umb.edu
4-512 UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125