Mental distress and recovery in a high-risk bereavement sample three years after untimely death

Recovery from postdisaster bereavement was the primary concern of this longitudinal study: would levels of mental distress and recovery reported 1 year following a natural disaster be better predictors of mental distress and recovery reported 3 years postdisaster than demographic variables, concurrent life stress, and mediating factors? The 119 bereaved and control participants studied in 1981, one year following the 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount Saint Helens, were recontacted in 1983; of these, 85 consented to follow-up. The 1983 data collection consisted of identical measurement tools and procedures used in 1981. Three regression analyses addressed prediction of mental distress and recovery. The first two analyses compared disaster-bereaved and nondisaster-loss controls; the third pertained only to the bereaved. For the bereaved/control comparisons, 1981 levels of mental distress, age, sex, education, and 1983 levels of negative life stress, self-efficacy, and social support were predictors of the dependent variable, mental distress. For the bereaved group, 1981 mental distress and 1983 self-efficacy scores were the only significant predictors of 1983 mental distress. In the control group, two additional variables, sex and concurrent negative life stress, were also significant predictors of 1983 mental distress. In the final regression analysis, predictors of self-rated recovery, importance of the deceased person rated by the bereaved 1 year postdisaster, and beliefs of preventability of death reported 3 years postdisaster were predictors of 1983 recovery. Only importance of the deceased person was a significant predictor in the latter analysis. Results suggest that recovery is a lengthy process and that much remains to be learned about influencing factors.