Impact of Hurricane Harvey on adult and young adult mental health and health behaviors

Abstract

Disasters such as hurricanes have considerable implications for mental health and health behaviors, and it is likely that these implications are influenced by social vulnerability. Young adults are uniquely vulnerable to the negative effects of disasters, and population-level, quasi-experimental approaches can help overcome some limitations of disaster mental health epidemiology, including retrospective data. We used a difference-in-differences modeling strategy with the 2012-2019 waves of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate the behavioral health impacts of Hurricane Harvey in Texas in August 2017. Individuals that were fully or partially exposed to the hurricane had a statistically significant increase in poor mental health at the population level (1.62 percentage points, 95% confidence interval: 0.20, 3.04). However, this change was not significantly different from the change in unexposed individuals. Results also did not find any statistically significant changes in self-reported health or health behaviors between individuals exposed to the hurricane as compared to unexposed individuals. Young adults did not significantly differ from other adults, nor did individuals with high school or less significantly differ from individuals with some college or more. White adults exposed to Hurricane Harvey had larger increases in poor mental health compared to those in unexposed areas (2.89, 95% CI: 0.20, 5.58). Findings did not support that young adults experience worse effects from the hurricane. The results highlight the importance of considering the mental health ramifications of disasters and the need for targeted mental health interventions in fully and partially exposed areas.