Hurricanes and Indigenous Families: Understanding connections with discrimination, social support, and violence on PTSD

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to use the culturally grounded Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT) to examine (a) the experiences and impacts of hurricanes on Indigenous (i.e., Native American) family members in the Gulf Coast and (b) to identify how experiencing hurricanes and natural disasters, family and community support, adverse childhood experiences (ACE), discrimination and intimate partner violence (IPV) may be related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among two Southeastern tribes. Results were drawn from a convergent mixed-methodology design, which incorporates ethnographic qualitative data and a culturally grounded quantitative follow-up survey. Thematic analysis of qualitative data with 208 participants from a coastal Indigenous community revealed several emergent themes, namely (a) the Impact of Federal Recognition on Hurricane Affected Communities; (b) Rapidly Changing Landscape, Lives, and Communities; and (C) Family and Personal Effects of Hurricane Experiences. Descriptive and hierarchical regression analysis of 127 participants across two Southeastern tribes indicate that many participants frequently thought of losses from hurricanes and disasters and that over one-third of the sample met the criteria for clinically significant PTSD. Regression results affirmed the independent effects of hurricane experiences, ACE, community and family support as they relate to PTSD; yet IPV and discrimination were the strongest predictors of PTSD. Results reveal the extensive repercussions of hurricanes on Indigenous families of the Southeast, which are inseparable from and exacerbated by the insidious historical oppression, including discrimination, already experienced by these groups.