Personal resources, coping self-efficacy, and quake exposure as predictors of psychological distress following the 1999 earthquake in Turkey

Abstract

This study examined the predictive power of personal resources (i.e., self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control), severity of earthquake experience (i.e., material and human loss and perceived threat), and coping self-efficacy (CSE) on general distress, intrusion, and avoidance symptoms among the survivors of the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Turkey. Specifically, we expected that CSE would mediate the links between personal resources, severity of earthquake experience, and distress. Survivors (N = 336) filled out various measures of earthquake exposure, personal resources, CSE, and distress. Results of the path analyses indicated that personal resources, earthquake experiences, CSE, and gender have direct effects on intrusion and general distress. Personal resources had also an indirect effect on general distress mediated by CSE. Findings were discussed considering the implications for conservation of resources model and social cognitive theory as well as for interventions following natural disasters.