Full Description
Winner, Betty and Alfred McClung Lee Book Award, Association for Humanist Sociology, 2016
Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award of the Section on Children and Youth, American Sociological Association, 2016
Honorable Mention, Leo Goodman Award, Methodology Section, American Sociological Association, 2016
When children experience upheaval and trauma, adults often view them as either vulnerable and helpless or as resilient and able to easily "bounce back." But the reality is far more complex for the children and youth whose lives are suddenly upended by disaster. How are children actually affected by catastrophic events and how do they cope with the damage and disruption?
Children of Katrina offers one of the only long-term, multiyear studies of young people following disaster. Sociologists Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek spent seven years after Hurricane Katrina interviewing and observing several hundred children and their family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, and other caregivers. In this book, they focus intimately on seven children between the ages of three and eighteen, selected because they exemplify the varied experiences of the larger group. They find that children followed three different post-disaster trajectories-declining, finding equilibrium, and fluctuating-as they tried to regain stability. The children's moving stories illuminate how a devastating disaster affects individual health and well-being, family situations, housing and neighborhood contexts, schooling, peer relationships, and extracurricular activities. This work also demonstrates how outcomes were often worse for children who were vulnerable and living in crisis before the storm. Fothergill and Peek clarify what kinds of assistance children need during emergency response and recovery periods, as well as the individual, familial, social, and structural factors that aid or hinder children in getting that support.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Foreword by David M. Abramson and Irwin Redlener
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Youngest Survivors
Chapter 2. Children, Youth, and Disaster
Part I. Declining Trajectory
Chapter 3. Daniel: Cumulative Vulnerability and Continuing Crises
Chapter 4. Mekana: Disaster as Catalyst
Part II. Finding-Equilibrium Trajectory
Chapter 5. Isabel and Zachary: Resource Depth and Long-Term Stability
Chapter 6. Cierra: Mobilizing Resources
Part III. Fluctuating Trajectory
Chapter 7. Jerron: Misaligned Spheres
Chapter 8. Clinton: Rapid Movement
Conclusion
Appendix A. Who Counts as a Child?
Appendix B. Studying Children and Youth in Disaster: A Note on Methods
Appendix C. Recommendations for Improved Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Efforts for Children and Youth
Notes
Index
