After Hurricane Maria: Effects of disaster trauma on Puerto Rican survivors on the U.S. mainland

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Houses were destroyed, millions of people lost power and access to clean water, and many roads were flooded and blocked. In the years following the storm, hundreds of thousands of people have left Puerto Rico and settled on the U.S. mainland. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of disaster trauma among Puerto Rican adults who moved to the U.S. mainland after Hurricane Maria.

Participants were 319 adult Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors on the U.S. mainland. Women comprised 71.2% of the sample. Data were collected between August 2020 and October 2021. Participants completed Spanish-language measures of hurricane-related trauma, perceived ethnic discrimination and negative context of reception on the U.S. mainland, language stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, optimism, life satisfaction, and problem drinking.

We estimated a structural equation model where hurricane trauma predicted cultural stress, which in turn predicted internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction. Internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction were specified as predictors of problem drinking. Results indicated that hurricane trauma predicted cultural stress. Cultural stress predicted internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction. Internalizing symptoms predicted problem drinking. Hurricane trauma indirectly predicted internalizing symptoms through cultural stress and indirectly predicted problem drinking through cultural stress and internalizing symptoms.

Traumatic experiences from the storm may predispose Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors to perceive cultural stress on the U.S. mainland. In turn, cultural stressors may be associated with internalizing symptoms and alcohol problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).