Psychological resilience of children in a multi-hazard environment: An index-based approach

Children are psychologically most vulnerable to disasters. To quantitatively measure children's psychological resilience to disaster, this study proposes a children's resilience framework incorporating three components: mental health, attitude, and awareness. The proposed framework was applied and found effective by constructing Children Psychological Disaster Resilience Assessment Index. A questionnaire survey was conducted among children and their parent(s), in four disaster-prone communities of Peshawar, Pakistan. The result shows significant variations in the psychological resilience of children among the four areas. It is evident that a child's psychological resilience is an inherent characteristic, but it is not fixed or purely based upon intrinsic factors. It can be suppressed by various life stressors and enhanced with effective psychological disaster preparedness that enables children to adapt well to new perceived realities of life. The proposed framework and assessment methodology can be easily adapted and applied to quantify the psychological resilience of children and identify the precise component or set of indicators that can be improved for disaster risk reduction.