Research Background and Objectives

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, often impose profound and multifaceted impacts on survivors, encompassing heightened risks of mental health disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], depression), impaired role functioning, and adverse physical health outcomes. However, a substantial body of evidence indicates that most disaster survivors exhibit resilience—a psychological and adaptive response characterized by only mild, transient elevations in distress symptoms during and shortly after the disaster, followed by a return to and maintenance of low symptom levels over time. Despite extensive research on disaster-related resilience, existing studies have predominantly focused on resilience within a single domain (e.g., only PTSD resilience or only physical health resilience), failing to explore two critical multidimensional constructs: “mental health wellness,” defined as resilience across multiple mental health dimensions (e.g., concurrent resilience to both PTSD and depression), and “overall wellness,” which integrates resilience across mental health, physical health, and role functioning domains. To address this gap, the present study centered on 658 survivors of Hurricane Ike, employing a three-wave longitudinal design to quantify the prevalence of both mental health wellness and overall wellness, while identifying key predictors that influence these multidimensional resilience outcomes.

Research Methods

The study utilized longitudinal data collected at three distinct time points following Hurricane Ike’s landfall: Wave 1 (2–5 months post-disaster), Wave 2 (5–9 months post-disaster), and Wave 3 (14–19 months post-disaster). A person-centered analytic approach, Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA), was employed to identify distinct trajectory patterns for four core outcome indicators: posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depressive symptoms, functional impairment, and number of days with poor physical health. Resilience was operationally defined as a stable low-level trajectory across the three waves for each indicator, consistent with established definitions of disaster resilience as the ability to resist, adapt to, and recover from hazard impacts . Cross-tabulation analyses were conducted to calculate the prevalence of mental health wellness (defined as concurrent resilience in both PTSS and depressive symptoms) and overall wellness (defined as concurrent resilience in all four indicators: PTSS, depression, functional impairment, and physical health). To examine predictors of these wellness outcomes, hierarchical logistic regression models were constructed, incorporating five categories of variables: sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, gender), pre-disaster trauma and mental illness history, hurricane-related traumatic experiences and stressors (e.g., property loss, loss of loved ones or pets), acute emotional reactions during the disaster (e.g., panic-like symptoms such as shortness of breath or rapid heartbeat), and community-level social assets (e.g., community collective efficacy, defined as a community’s shared belief in its capacity for collective action ).

Key Results

The prevalence of resilience in individual outcome indicators varied notably: 74.9% of participants demonstrated resilience in PTSS, 57.9% in depressive symptoms, 45.1% in functional impairment, and 52.6% in the number of poor physical health days. In contrast, the prevalence of multidimensional wellness—encompassing resilience across multiple domains—was substantially lower. Specifically, only 51.2% of survivors achieved mental health wellness (resilient to both PTSS and depression), and a mere 26.1% attained overall wellness (resilient across all four indicators: PTSS, depression, functional impairment, and physical health). LCGA results revealed that each of the four outcome indicators could be categorized into four distinct trajectory classes: resilient (stable low symptoms), chronic (persistently high symptoms), recovery (initial high symptoms followed by decline), and delayed (initial low symptoms followed by elevation). Furthermore, analyses indicated significant associations between resilience status across different indicators, suggesting that resilience in one domain (e.g., mental health) is positively correlated with resilience in other domains (e.g., physical health or functional functioning), though not deterministically so.

Predictor Analyses

Hierarchical logistic regression analyses identified several consistent and domain-specific predictors of mental health wellness and overall wellness. Two factors emerged as robust positive predictors for both outcomes: lower acute emotional reactions during the disaster (e.g., reduced frequency of panic-like symptoms such as rapid heartbeat or breathing difficulties) and higher levels of community collective efficacy. Community collective efficacy, rooted in social cohesion and mutual trust, has been repeatedly linked to stronger disaster recovery and mental health outcomes, as it facilitates resource mobilization and social support . Negative predictors showed some differentiation between the two wellness constructs: loss of emotional attachments or pets, as well as hurricane-related economic losses, were significantly associated with reduced odds of mental health wellness. In contrast, personal property loss emerged as a key negative predictor of overall wellness. Additionally, specific sociodemographic and pre-disaster factors were uniquely associated with overall wellness: being non-Hispanic Black, being 55 years of age or older, and having a pre-disaster history of depression were all linked to lower likelihood of achieving overall wellness. These findings align with prior research indicating that older adults and individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions may face heightened vulnerability to multidimensional post-disaster adversity.

Research Conclusions and Implications

This study’s findings highlight a critical limitation of single-domain resilience research: focusing on individual outcomes (e.g., only PTSD) significantly overestimates the true prevalence of post-disaster wellness, as only a quarter of Hurricane Ike survivors (26.1%) achieved resilience across mental, physical, and functional domains. This discrepancy underscores that the actual demand for comprehensive post-disaster support services is far greater than previously estimated based on single-domain studies. The identification of key cross-domain predictors—including acute disaster-related emotional reactions, personal property loss, and community collective efficacy—provides actionable targets for post-disaster intervention strategies. Specifically, interventions aimed at mitigating acute emotional distress during disasters, protecting individuals’ property and economic security, and strengthening community cohesion and collective efficacy may effectively promote multidimensional wellness among survivors. By integrating these targets into disaster preparedness and recovery frameworks, policymakers and practitioners can better support survivors in achieving holistic recovery, rather than merely addressing isolated symptoms or domains. Ultimately, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of disaster resilience as a multidimensional construct, offering evidence-based insights to enhance the effectiveness of post-disaster support systems.