Why Family Communication Matters: The Role of Co-Rumination and Topic Avoidance in Understanding Post-Disaster Mental Health

• 2020

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• Erika Felix; Tamara Afifi; Sean Horan; Haley Meskunas; Adam Garber
PMID: 32827289DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10802-020-00688-7

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About

This article explores how family communication affects mental health after natural disasters. It describes a study of 485 parent-child pairs in Texas after severe floods. The study found that avoiding topics and co-rumination, or talking too much about problems, can impact anxiety and depression levels in both parents and children. High topic avoidance was linked to more anxiety and depression in children, while high co-rumination increased these symptoms for both groups. The findings suggest that balanced communication is important for mental health recovery post-disaster.

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Tags

Focus Areas: Mental Health; Natural Disasters; Severe Weather

Audiences: Behavioral Health Professionals; Physicians

Emergency Management Stage: Recovery

Collection: Disaster Research Literature Review

Keywords: Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Communication; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Family Relations; Mental Health; Natural Disasters; Parents; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Stress, Psychological; Texas; Adolescent; Rumination, Cognitive

Institutions: University of California, Santa Barbara; Fairfield University

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