Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Attitudes toward the China Eastern Airlines Plane Crash in Transportation Students

Lei Xia, Cheng Yang, Jiawei Wang, Lewei Liu, Yinghan Tian, Yi-lang Tang, Feng Jiang () and Huanzhong Liu ()
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Lei Xia: Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 238000, China
Cheng Yang: Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 238000, China
Jiawei Wang: Department of Psychiatry, Bozhou People’s Hospital, Bozhou 236800, China
Lewei Liu: Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 238000, China
Yinghan Tian: Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 238000, China
Yi-lang Tang: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Feng Jiang: School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
Huanzhong Liu: Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 238000, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: On 21 March 2022, a China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 people on board crashed and all people are presumed dead. This study aimed to explore mental health symptoms and attitudes toward the plane crash among flight and train attendant students and the general public. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted two weeks after the plane crash. Mental health symptoms, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms were assessed. A total of 494 participants were included, of which 183 were flight ( n = 140) and train ( n = 43) attendant students (aged 17.3 ± 1.7 years, 80.9% were female), and 311 were sampled from the general population (aged 26.7 ± 7.8 years, 62.1% were female). The prevalence of depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms, and PTSS was 51.9%, 40.4%, 25.1%, and 12.6% in the transportation students, and 45.3%, 36.0%, 17.4%, and 4.2% in the general public sample, respectively. The students reported more frequent insomnia symptoms and PTSS than the general public sample. In the student group, compared with those without PTSS, those with PTSS reported significantly higher rates of depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms. Two weeks after a plane crash, mental health symptoms are common in the general public and transportation students, with the latter being more likely to have PTSS symptoms. Our findings suggest the importance to identify risk groups when developing interventions after indirect exposure to traumatic events.

Keywords: plane crash; transportation students; posttraumatic stress symptoms; depression; indirect traumatization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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