Abstract
Over the past two decades, our research group investigated the psychological well-being of mothers of young children in the aftermath of the nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) in central Pennsylvania and the melt down at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northwest Ukraine. In spite of differences in culture and magnitude, these two catastrophic events had a number of common characteristics, making the comparison in the psychological responses to these events extremely valuable. Common features included the intangible nature of exposure to radiation, the delay in the evacuation order, incomplete disclosure by the authorities about what occurred, contradictory reports in the news media as the events unfolded, widespread rumors about adverse or bizarre effects on plants and animals, ensuing distrust of government authorities, the tendency to attribute new health problems to radiation exposure, fears about health effects on future generations, health monitoring by government agencies, and most important, lack of resolution about potential risks to the population at large.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bard, D., Verger, P., & Hubert, P. (1997). Chernobyl, 10 years after: Health consequences. Epidemiologic Reviews, 19, 187–204.
Baum, A., & Fleming, I. (1993). Implications of psychological research on stress and technological accidents. American Psychologist, 48, 665–672.
Bromet, E. (1998). Psychological effects of radiation catastrophes. In L. E. Peterson & S. Abrahamson (Eds.), Effects of ionizing radiation: Atomic bomb survivors and their children (1945–1995) (pp. 283–294). Washington DC: Joseph Henry Press.
Bromet, E. J., & Dew, M. A. (1995). Review of psychiatric epidemiologic research on disasters. Epidemiologic Reviews, 17, 113–119.
Bromet, E. J., Goldgaber, D., Carlson, G., Panina, N., Golovakha, E., Gluzman, S. F. et al. (2000). Children’s well-being 11 years after the Chernobyl catastrophe. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 563–571.
Bromet, E. J., Parkinson, D. K., Schulberg, H. C., Dunn, L. O., & Gondek, P. C. (1982). Mental health of residents near the Three Mile Island reactor: A comparative study of selected groups. Journal of Preventive Psychiatry, 1, 225–275.
Bromet, E. J., & Schulberg, H. C. (1986). The TMI disaster: A search for high risk groups. In J. H. Shore (Ed.), Disaster stress studies: New methods and findings (pp. 2–19). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Brown, G., & Harris, T. (1978). Social origins of depression. New York: Free Press.
Cardis, E. (1996). Epidemiology of accidental radiation exposures. Environmental Health Perspectives, 104(suppl.) (3), 643–649.
Cwikel, J., Abdelgani, A., Goldsmith, J. R., Quastel, M., & Yevelson, I. I. (1997). Two-year follow-up study of stress-related disorders among immigrants to Israel from the Chernobyl area. Environmental Health Perspectives, 105, 1545–1550.
Davidson, L. M., & Baum, A. (1986). Chronic stress and posttraumatic stress disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 303–308.
Derogatis, L. R. (1983). SCL-90-R: Administration, scoring & procedures manual-II. Towson, MD: Psychometric Research.
Dew, M. A., & Bromet, E. J. (1993). Predictors of temporal patterns of psychiatric distress during 10 years following the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 28, 49–55.
Dew, M. A., Bromet, E. J., Schulberg, H. C., Dunn, L. O., & Parkinson, D. K. (1987). Mental health effects of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor restart. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1074–1077.
Dohrenwend, B. P. (1983). Psychological implications of nuclear accidents: The case of Three Mile Island. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 59, 1060–1076.
Endicott, J., & Spitzer, R. (1978). A diagnostic interview: The Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 766–771.
Feshbach, M., & Friendly, A., Jr. (1992). Ecocide in the USSR: Health and nature under siege. New York: Basic Books.
Flynn, C. B. (1981). Local public opinion. In T. H. Moss & D. L. Sills (Eds.), The Three Mile Island nuclear accident: Lessons and implications. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 365, 146–158.
Green, B., Lindy, J., Grace, M., Gleser, G. C., Leonard, A. C., Korol, M. et al. (1990). Buffalo Creek survivors in the second decade: Stability of stress symptoms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 60, 43–54.
Hatch, M. C., Beyea, J., Nieves, J. W., & Susser, M. (1990). Cancer near the Three Mile Island nuclear plant: Radiation emissions. American Journal of Epidemiology, 132, 397–412.
Havenaar, J. M., Rumyantzeva, G. M., Vandenbrink, W., Poelijoe, N. W., Vandenbout, J., Vanengeland, H. et al. (1997). Long-term mental health effects of the Chernobyl disaster: An epidemiologic survey in two former Soviet regions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1605–1607.
Havenaar, J. M., & van den Brink, W. (1997). Psychological factors affecting health after toxi-cological disasters. Clinical Psychology Review, 17, 359–374.
Houts, P. S., Cleary, P. D., & Hu, T-W. (1988). The Three Mile Island crisis: Psychological, social, and economic impacts on the surrounding population. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Lifton, R. J. (1967). Death in life: Survivors of Hiroshima. New York: Random House.
Litcher, L., Bromet, E. J., Carlson, G., Squires, N., Goldgaber, D., Panina, N. et al. (2000). School and neuropsychological performance of evacuated children in Kiev eleven years after the Chernobyl disaster. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 41, 219–299.
McFarlane, A., Policansky, S., & Irwin, C. (1987). A longitudinal study of the psychological morbidity in children due to a natural disaster. Psychological Medicine, 17, 727–738.
Misao, T., Hattori, K., Shirakawa, M., Suga, M., Ogawa, N., Ohara, Y. et al. (1961). Characteristics in abnormalities observed in atom-bombed survivors. Journal of Radiation Research, 2, 85–97.
Nikiforov, Y., Gnepp, D. R., & Fagin, J. A. (1996). Thyroid lesions in children and adolescents after the Chernobyl disaster: Implications for the study of radiation tumorigenesis. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 81, 9–14.
Phelan, J., Schwartz, J. E., Bromet, E. J., Dew, M. A., Parkinson, D. K., Schulberg, H. C. et al. (1991). Work stress, family stress and depression in professional and managerial employees. Psychological Medicine, 21, 999–1012.
Spitzer, R., Endicott, J., & Robins, E. (1978). Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 35, 773–782.
Stiehm, E. R. (1992). The psychologic fallout from Chernobyl. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 146, 761–762.
Tarabrina, N., Lazebnaya, E., Zelenova, M., & Lasko, N. (1996). Chernobyl clean-up workers’ perception of radiation threat. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 68, 251–255.
Viinamäki, H., Kumpusalo, E., Myllykangas, M., Salomaa, S., Kumpusalo, L., Kolmakov, S. et al. (1995). The Chernobyl accident and mental wellbeing—a population study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 91, 396–401.
Whitcomb, R. C., & Sage, M. (1997). Nuclear reactor incidents. In E. K. Noji (Ed.), The public health consequences of disasters (pp. 397–418). New York: Oxford University Press.
Yamada, M., Kodama, K., & Wong, F. L. (1991). The long-term psychological sequelae of atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In R. Ricks, M. E. Berger, & R. M. O’Hara (Eds.), The medical basis for radiation preparedness III: The psychological perspective (pp. 155–163). New York: Elsevier.
Yevelson, I. I., Abdelgani, A., Cwikel, J., & Yevelson, I. S. (1997). Bridging the gap in mental health approaches between East and West: The psychosocial consequences of radiation exposure. Environmental Health Perspectives, 105(suppl.) (6), 1551–1556.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bromet, E.J., Litcher-Kelly, L. (2002). Psychological Response of Mothers of Young Children to the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Accidents One Decade Later. In: Havenaar, J.M., Cwikel, J.G., Bromet, E.J. (eds) Toxic Turmoil. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0623-2_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0623-2_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5163-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0623-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive