Disaster preparedness: Relationships among prior experience, personal characteristics, and distress

At the peak of a hurricane watch and warning, participants completed a ques tionnaire asking about their prior experience with a hurricane (property lo ss and distress), and their degree of preparation, perceived threat, and di stress when threatened by Hurricane Emily (Study 1) or Hurricane Fran (Stud y 2). In Study 1, age, income, internal locus of control, perceived threat, and current distress predicted preparation. Among participants with hurric ane experience, age and distress as a result of the hurricane accounted for a significant portion of preparation variance. In Study 2, age, perceived threat, and hurricane experience predicted preparation. The findings suppor t both the conservation of resources stress model (Hobfoll, 1989) and the w arning and response model (Lindell & Ferry, 1992). Implications of the find ings and future research directions are discussed.