Changes in alcohol consumption after a natural disaster: a study of Norwegian survivors after the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami

A sample of Norwegian adults (≥ 18 years) who resided in areas affected by the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami (N？=？899) were assessed by a postal questionnaire 6 months after the disaster. Based on detailed questions about experiences with the tsunami, participants were grouped according to their extent of disaster exposure. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised was applied to measure the level of post-traumatic stress. Participants were asked whether they had increased or decreased their alcohol consumption after the disaster. Moreover, weekly alcohol consumption and frequency of intoxication during the past month were used as indicators of current drinking behaviors.Severely exposed individuals more often reported changing their alcohol consumption compared with those who were less exposed. Severe exposure to the tsunami was associated with both a self-perceived increase (OR 21.38, 95% CI 2.91–157.28) and decrease in alcohol consumption (OR 7.41, 95% CI 1.74–31.51). The odds ratios decreased and were not significant when adjusting for post-traumatic stress symptoms. Weekly consumption and frequency of intoxication during the past month did not vary with extent of disaster exposure.Our findings indicate a polarization effect of severe disaster exposure on self-perceived changes in alcohol consumption; that is, disaster exposure was associated with self-perceived increases and decreases in drinking. However, the absence of associations between disaster exposure and indicators of current drinking behaviors suggests that the observed polarization effect may be overestimated because of attribution and recall bias.Numerous studies have investigated how exposure to trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms are associated with the use and abuse of alcohol [1-7]. Most of this research has focused on the extent of comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence. Some recent studies investigated whether alcohol consumption incr