Investigation of the factors affecting post-traumatic stress disorder in survivors of the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes.

Abstract

Background: This study investigates the factors influencing post-traumatic stress disorder in the youth population seven months after the February 6, 2023, Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, which caused massive destruction in Türkiye and resulted in the loss of over 55,000 lives.

Objective: The effects of gender, damage levels of buildings, financial resources, participation in search and rescue operations, peritraumatic distress, perceived social support, and resilience are investigated for their impacts on post-traumatic stress disorder. The goal is to examine how these factors influence post-traumatic stress disorder not only on average but also across different levels of its distribution.

Method: A face-to-face survey was conducted between September and October 2023 with a randomly selected sample of 160 voluntary university students aged 18 and above who had directly experienced the earthquakes in the affected zone. The study employs quantile regression alongside classical regression and conventional statistical methods to examine the effects of various factors on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Results: The prevalence rates of PTSD are 65.6 % and 35 % based on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), using cut-off scores of 33 and 47, respectively. Classical regression results indicate that female gender (β = 7.98, p < 0.001), moderate or higher building damage (β = 5.6, p < 0.05), moderate (β = -6.3, p < 0.001) and high (β = -7.69, p < 0.01) financial resources, peritraumatic distress (β = 0.6, p < 0.001), perceived social support (β = -0.12, p < 0.05), and resilience (β = -0.66, p < 0.001) have impacts on average PTSD scores. Quantile regression results reveal that all factors are effective at various quantiles of post-traumatic stress disorder. For instance, while minor damage (β = 5.06, p < 0.05) is found to be significant at the 10th percentile, participation in search and rescue operations (β = 8.12, p < 0.01) is significant at the 80th percentile.

Conclusions: The effects of gender, building damage levels, financial resources, peritraumatic distress, perceived social support, and resilience remain consistent, showing no substantial variation across the quantiles of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, in the upper tail of the PTSD distribution, participation in search and rescue operations emerges as a risk factor, exacerbating its severity.