Exploring Predictors of Disaster Resilience Among Older Adults: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Survey

TL;DR

This study finds that older adults exposed to climate-related disasters have lower disaster resilience, but healthy aging factors can counteract this effect.

Contribution

The study identifies specific healthy aging indicators that can mitigate the negative impact of disaster exposure on resilience in older adults.

Findings

Disaster exposure is negatively associated with overall disaster resilience and specific resilience subscales.

Healthy aging factors like place attachment and social activities are strongly linked to higher resilience.

In the final model, disaster exposure was not directly associated with resilience when healthy aging variables were considered.

Abstract

Older adults are the fastest-growing age group in the U.S. and desire to age at home. However, many reside in places increasingly exposed to climate change-fueled disasters. The Aging in Risky Environmental Areas (AREA) Study is a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling adults ages 50+ queried in November 2022 on aging, disaster exposure, and climate change. We conducted bivariate analyses and multivariate linear regression to examine the association between disaster exposure in the past 3 years and scores on the Disaster Adaptation and Resilience Scale (DARS), adjusting for sociodemographics and healthy aging indicators. Among 1,504 participants, 40.3% were exposed to ≥ 2 climate-related disasters. Total disaster exposure (p = 0.002), any indirect exposure (p < 0.001), and any direct exposure (p = 0.005) were all negatively associated with total disaster resilience. Total disaster exposure was also negatively associated with DARS subscales of social resources (p = 0.003), distress regulation (p < 0.001), and optimism (p = 0.006). In the final model, disaster exposure was not associated with resilience. Several healthy aging variables were associated, including place attachment (b = 3.28, p < 0.001); time spent on social and leisure activities (b = 1.23, p < 0.001); loneliness (b = -0.47, p < 0.001); cognitive impairment (b = -8.28, p < 0.001); depression (b = -5.47, p = 0.002); and psychological distress (b = -0.88, p < 0.001). Results show that while disaster exposure is associated with worse resilience, healthy aging can supersede this while facing more frequent and intense climate-related disasters.