Life satisfaction and perceived stress among young offenders in a residential therapeutic community: Latent change score analysis.

Recent rehabilitation frameworks underscore the importance of strength-based interventions for young offenders who may lack internal and external resources to manage their stress and plan for their life. This multi-wave longitudinal study investigated the dynamic relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction among a group of young ex-offenders in a residential therapeutic community. Four waves of data were collected from 117 Hong Kong youths (24.0% female, mean age = 17.7) over one year. Latent change score analysis was employed to examine the univairate and bivariate changes of their perceived stress and life satisfaction. Results suggest a positive growth trajectory in life satisfaction over time. The results of perceived stress were less conclusive. Bivariate models indicated that the previous level of life satisfaction was negatively linked to the subsequent perceived stress level but not vice versa. The findings suggest that improvement in life satisfaction may reduce perceived stress in young ex-offenders.

Psychological Sequelae of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan Among Survivor-Responders.

OBJECTIVE: Super Typhoon Haiyan (known as Yolanda in the Philippines), one of the strongest tropical cyclones recorded in history, made landfall in the Philippines in November 2013. This cross-sectional study examined the psychological impact of the typhoon and its aftermath, as well as the impact of individual typhoon-related stressors among a group of survivor-responders. METHOD: A total of 192 Filipino adult survivors who were also disaster-relief responders and 45 unaffected disaster-relief responders (N = 237) completed a questionnaire that assessed their general psychological distress (GPD), symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS), and disaster experiences 1.5 to 4 months after the event. RESULTS: The disaster-exposed group was more distressed and suffered from more symptoms of PTS, but the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was not statistically different between the two groups (7.9% versus 9.4%). Regression analysis revealed that financial instability (ß = .52), physical injury (ß = .21), and perceived life threat (ß = .17) were associated with GPD. Physical injury (ß = .20) and perceived life threat (ß = .20) were also associated with PTS symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Although a marked difference in PTSD was not noted, the psychological impact of Super Typhoon Haiyan on survivor-responders in terms of nonspecific psychological distress and symptoms of PTS was considerable. Some typhoon-related stressors, including financial instability, physical injury, and perceived life threat, appear to be more detrimental to mental health than other stressors.