Bidirectional longitudinal associations of parent and child health following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill

This study (1) assessed whether parent health mediated associations between exposures to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (BP-DHOS) and child health, and whether child health mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and parent health; and (2) assessed bidirectional longitudinal associations between parent health and child health following the BP-DHOS. The study used three waves of panel data (2014, 2016, and 2018) from South Louisiana communities highly impacted by the BP-DHOS. Parents with children (aged 4–18 at the time of the interview) were interviewed based on a probability sample of households. Focal measures included economic and physical BP-DHOS exposures, self-reported parent health, and parent-reported child health. Health measures were gathered at three time points. The analyses included mediation analysis and estimating and comparing effect sizes of longitudinal cross-lagged effects between parent health and child health. Results showed that parent health partly mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and child health, and that child health partly mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and parent health. Paths from prior waves of parent health to subsequent waves of child health were positive and statistically significant as were paths from prior waves of child health to subsequent waves of parent health. The differences in size of the child-to-parent health effects and the parent-to-child health effects were not statistically significant. This study’s results extend evidence for the post-disaster effect of parent health on child health and the effects of child health on parent health. These findings support the contention that harm to the health of one’s family member following disasters operates as a form of resource loss deleterious to one’s health.