DOI: 10.34894/uykjbv
title: Psychological distress in the aftermath of the 2020 Petrinja earthquake, Croatia

description: The Psychological Typhoon Eye (PTE) effect refers to the observation that those living in the epicenters of natural disasters or public emergencies exhibit lower levels of psychological distress than those living further away. The effect was first described in the context of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (Li et al., 2009). However, despite its potential relevance for emergency relieve, this phenomenon has received little research attention and requires further replication. To this end, data was collected in the aftermath of the earthquake that occurred in December 2020 in Petrinja, Croatia. With a magnitude of 6.4 on the scale of Richter, this was one of the gravest natural disasters occurring in Croatia in recent history. The goals of this study were:&lt;br&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;to conceptually replicate the PTE effect using the original measures utilized by Li et al. (2009), 
&lt;li&gt;to replicate the effect using the validated Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), 
&lt;li&gt;to explore possible the mediating role of general and earthquake specific coping in the PTE effect 
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The sample consisted of 316 participants living in Croatia at the time of the earthquake, who were grouped into four categories based on their experienced levels of devastation.&lt;/p&gt;
description: Data files: <br>
Final workfile:<br>
Petrinja earthquake distress data_Final workfile.sav

This anonymized SPSS data file contains all variables on which the analyses reported in the associated paper are based. The variable names refer to the used items and questionnaires (e.g., gender, age, Depress).

Data analysis syntax:<br>
Age_Thesis_final<br>
Anxiety_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
Anxiety_Coping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>
Anxiety_EarthquakeCoping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>
ComputedVariables_Thesis_Final<br>
Depression_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
Depression_Coping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>
Depression_EarthquakeCoping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>
DescriptiveData_Thesis_Final<br>
Gender_Thesis_Final<br>
Illness_probability_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
MediationFULL_Thesis_Final<br>
Medicine_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
No.of.doctors_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
No.of.psych_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
SafetyMeasures_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
Stress_ANOVA_Thesis_Final<br>
Stress_Coping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>
Stress_EarthquakeCoping_Mediation_Thesis_Final<br>

These files are the SPPS output files containing the analyses reported in the associated paper.

Supplemental material:<br>
The file “OverviewVariables_Qualtrics.pdf” contains the wording of all items and questionnaires of the final survey in Croatian. 

Structure data package:<br>
The data package contains two separate folders. A “final data and analyses” folder containing the data files and a “Supplementary materials” folder containing the supplementary materials.
description: Ethical clearance: This study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (code: TSB_RP48) 

Production date: 1-12-2021 until 30-6-2022
Method:<br>
Questionnaires in an online survey were distributed using the Qualtrics platform. Participants were recruited through the snow-balling technique by sharing the survey on social media profiles, Facebook student groups, Facebook groups specifically made to help in the wake of the 2020 earthquake, LinkedIn profiles from individual researchers, Catholic University of Croatia social media platforms, and the individual, personal profiles of the researchers (see the Participants section). The questionnaire was distributed for a period of a month and a half, from mid-November to the end of December 2021, stopping around the one-year mark since the earthquake. Given that a previous study found that the PTE effect is stable for at least one year (Li et al., 2010), we judged this timeframe to be appropriate for the purposes of this study.
Following the initial stage of data collection, we were left with a small number of participants in the yellow (n = 19) and red (n = 7) categories. As there was a sizable difference in the number of participants between these two categories and the white and green category, we decided to resume the data collection for a period of two weeks in June of 2022. The data collection lasted until mid-June, and it was distributed specifically with the aim of collecting more participants belonging to the red and yellow categories. The questionnaire was distributed through contacting doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in the Petrinja area where the earthquake occurred, as well as through organizations aiding the earthquake victims. This additional data collected resulted in eight additional respondents, of which two were in the yellow category, three in the green category, and three in the red category.
Questionnaires and information collected included:<br>

Demographic information (birth year, gender, education level, nationality, and region of residency during the earthquake) 
Level of Devastation (measured using a coloured sticker system assessed for each building by structural engineers right after the earthquake)
Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (Ivaković, 2019; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995)
Post-earthquake Levels of Health and Safety Concern (Li et al., 2009)
Coping Self-Efficacy (Ivanov & Penezić, 2002; Schwarzer, 1993)
Earthquake Specific Coping Self-Efficacy (Sumer et al., 2005)
Earthquake risk perception (Kung & Chen, 2012)


Universe: Sample of 323 individuals (316 with complete data) who completed the questionnaires and who were living in Croatia or bordering countries at the time of the 2020 Petrinja earthquake.
Country / Nation: Croatia and the Netherlands (data was collected in Croatia, but using the Qualtrics account of Tilburg University, located in the Netherlands).