A sizable number of children and adolescents around the world are exposed to disaster and other mass traumas every year (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC], World Disaster Report 2010:Focus on urban risk, 2010; Norris et al., Psychiatry 65:207–239, 2002). In 2012 alone, close to 80 million people around the world were exposed to natural disasters, in which
... [Show full abstract] many of them were children and adolescents (US Agency for International Development, Working in crisis and conflict, 2013). Risk of disaster exposure seems to be determined by the interactive effects of multiple factors, such as geographical location, characteristics of the child, family and social relationships, socioeconomic status (SES), cultural practices and beliefs, sociopolitical conditions, and public policies (WHO, Gender and health in disasters, http://www.who.int/gender/other_health/en/genderdisasters.pdf, 2002). Disasters have the potential of having a deleterious effect on the multiple systems in which youths are embedded and on the extent to which they have their basic needs (i.e., food, shelter, medical care, and social support) met. In the short term, a sizeable number of youths exposed to disaster may worry about their safety, experience somatic concerns (i.e., headaches, stomachaches), sleep problems, anxiety, sadness, behavioral problems, academic difficulties, and separation anxiety. In the long term, some children and adolescents experience anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and behavioral problems (Davis and Siegel, Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 3:35–154, 2000; Norris et al., Psychiatry 65:207–239, 2002; Scheeringa and Zeanah, J Trauma Stress 14:799–815, 2008; Silverman and La Greca, Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism, pp. 11–33, 2002). Importantly, the extent to which disaster exposure has short- and long-term consequences for youths depends on the dynamic interplay between multiple factors. Specifically, the nature of the event (e.g., magnitude, degree of exposure, loss of life, violence involved), characteristics of the youth (e.g., age, gender, and predisaster functioning, prior trauma exposure), and the functioning of systems prior to and post disaster (e.g., family, school) that are viewed as fundamental for human adaptation and resilience play an important role in predicting positive adaption in the aftermath of disasters (Masten and Narayan, Ann Rev Psychol 63:227–257, 2011; Scheeringa and Zeanah, J Trauma Stress 14:799–815, 2001; Silverman and La Greca, Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism, pp. 11–33, 2002).
