Risk and protective factors for mental disorders after exposure to natural disasters and extreme weather events

• Applicant: Ahlke Kip, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 546536645

The consequences of the increasing number of climate change-related natural hazards represent one of the most pressing global public health challenges. The research proposal aims for a detailed investigation of risk and protective factors for mental health conditions after exposure to natural disasters and weather extremes worldwide. The first objective is to explore key influential factors in the onset and maintenance of psychopathology after exposure to a natural disaster using a large longitudinal dataset that was collected after the most devastating wildfire in Australia to date, the Black Saturday fires 2009. Exploratory network analyses will be used to create predictive models for three common mental disorders in the aftermath of natural disasters: posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol misuse. The methodology allows for a nuanced representation of the complexity and dynamics of network structures that will inform future prospective studies. This proposed objective will be addressed at research location 1, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The second objective is to investigate risk and protective factors for mental disorders as well as suicidality after exposure to natural disasters and weather extremes worldwide by means of a three-level meta-analysis. This proposed project builds upon an ongoing meta-analytical project on the prevalence of mental disorders in populations that have been affected by natural disasters. The advanced three-level approach allows for the consideration of data dependency while including a broad range of risk- and protective factors. These will include pre-event (e.g., marital status, ethnicity), peri-event (e.g., experience of fear of death, physical injury), and post-traumatic factors (e.g., financial stress, property loss). This proposed project will provide crucial information for the development of targeted prevention programs in the aftermath of disasters. The second objective will be addressed at research location 2, the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany. A superordinate aim of the programme is to expand my clinical as well as methodological expertise while learning about different international lab cultures and exploring future directions of my research.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position