Earthquake Impact on Miami Haitian Americans: The Role of Family/Social Connectedness

Abstract

Individuals who are indirectly exposed to disasters may be affected psychologically. The impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake reverberated throughout the Haitian American community in Miami, Florida. Many within the community held strong transnational family and friendship bonds to their homeland. We examined associations between indicators of family and social connectedness and symptom levels for generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, and physical and mental health status for Haitian Americans and non-Haitian Americans who were living in Miami at the time of the earthquake. Results showed that family and social connectedness to earthquake victims strongly predicted symptom levels for Haitian American survey participants.