UA Professor James Hamilton is conducting a study called the “Silver Lining Project,” which aims to study the prolonged psychological effects of the April 27 tornado. The first part of the study, examining the effects six months after the storm, has just begun.
Hamilton, a professor in the department of psychology, is conducting the study in order to study how the effects of the storm affect the overall adjustment of the students afterwards.
“The plan is to collect data now, again in April 2012, and again in April 2013,” Hamilton said. “The recruitment emails have already been sent out to students crimson email addresses and about 300 of the 800 have completed the current round of data collection.”
These email invitations are not part of a scam, something Hamilton said he is trying to stress to everyone in order to gain as much participation as possible. Those who partake will be paid $40 for their participation in the study, which will be conducted through an online survey.
Hamilton went on to say that the students invited to complete the survey were introductory psychology students who participated in Hamilton’s study last year, entitled Psychology Research Screening. The study was comprised of 10 surveys which studied emotions, social relations and the physical or mental health of the students.
Since the majority of the students were present in Tuscaloosa when the tornado hit, Hamilton said this set up an ideal opportunity to evaluate these characteristics of the students before the storm as compared to their same characteristics after the storm.
“Because one can never predict such things, the only way you ever get good data to compare folks before and after a disaster is if it happens by accident,” Hamilton said. “Because this is a good thing that resulted from the storm we have called our work the Silver Lining Project – every cloud has a silver lining.”
According to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, survivors of disasters are more likely to experience readjustment issues if they directly experience or witness severe environmental devastation or the loss of home, valued possessions, neighborhood or community.
These circumstances are directly relevant to the April 27 tornado and Hamilton hopes that his study may show these connections between the storm and the readjustment problems of students.
“When the study is done we will be able to learn about who develops psychological problems as a result of a disaster experience, and the specific psychological mechanisms that are responsible for that happening,” Hamilton said. “We also hope to make basic scientific advances such as learning about how a major life event like the tornado affects core personality characteristics in young adults.”
Many students who have heard about the study are curious to see the outcome. Sarah Mustion, a junior majoring in public relations, heard about the study recently and said she wondered how the characteristics of students would be affected.
“It’s a very interesting study and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how much of an impact the tornado has on the personality traits of students,” Mustion said. “Considering how much the tornado impacted the everyday lives of many people, I think we’ll see some changes.”
