Female Perspectives on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Family Conflict and Life Stressors Contributing to Post Disaster Mental Health and Resilience

Background and Purpose: Incidents of disaster tend to increase vulnerabilities of marginalized populations.  This is especially true for technological disasters, where economics plays a critical role in the loss and blame cycle of recovery. For areas dependent on fishing and tourism for survival, the unknown of when and if the communities would recover created a great amount of stress for families along the Gulf Coast.  Reports of increased alcohol use, family conflict, and domestic violence were common in communities with many females vocalizing these concerns, yet female perspectives regarding the impact of oil spills are not given adequate attention.  Terms such as, fishermen and oil men, would suggest that oil spill impacts are male centered, but fishing operations are often family based where all members contribute, especially during high season. Similarly, there are many females in the oil industry and families that are dependent on industry-based income.  The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of female perspectives and experiences of oil spill impact and how these factors influence one’s mental health and resilience. 

Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data approximately 3 months following the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill.  A sample of 188 residents that identified as female and lived along the Louisiana Gulf Coast were sampled. Purposive sampling techniques were used to allow for more detailed information on communities closest to the Gulf Coast.  The majority of participants were: married/cohabitating (61%); over 41 years of age (57%); reported a 2009 annual income of less than $40,000 (78%) and had at least 1 child under the age of 18 (84%).  Two-thirds (66%) of the participants reported a moderate to severe disruption in their family, social and/or work life due to the oil spill.  In addition, 42% reported worse mental health; 23% reported an increase in partner conflict; and 32% reported an increase in life stressors since the spill.

Results: Two regression models were tested.  Results revealed that that post-oil spill variables and resilience accounted for 28.2% of the variance in resilience [F (4, 187) = 18.01, p < .001], significant predictors included oil spill disruption, aggression, post-spill partner conflict and resilience.  Results revealed pre-oil spill variables accounted for 18.6% of the variance in resilience [F (4, 188) = 10.52, p < .001], significant predictors included child behavior problems, pre-spill mental health, pre-spill life stressors, and pre-spill partner conflict.  

Conclusions and Implications: To further our understanding of technological disasters such as oil spills, it is imperative to look into smaller groups embedded within larger populations.  In this study we specifically explored female perspectives of response and recovery. Interestingly more pre-spill variables predicted resilience, where the predictor variables for mental health were more focused on post disaster factors.  These findings highlight the importance of disaster preparedness initiatives focusing on resilience building and response initiatives focused on conflict resolution and stress management for better mental health outcomes.