As of January 2008, 151 community members (76 male, 75 female) living in post-Katrina New Orleans have completed our community survey. Ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 82 years, with an average age of 42.5 years. Thirty-nine percent of the participants were White, 49% were African American, 5% were Latino/a, 2% were Asian American, and 3% were of other ethnicities. When asked for their highest level of education, 32.5% of the participants indicated a high school degree, 39% indicated some college, and 24.5% indicated a Bachelor’s degree or beyond. It should be noted that the participants in this sample are not necessarily representative of the populations of the New Orleans area. This means that the results found in this study may not generalize to the New Orleans population as a whole.

    Among the participants in the study, 87% lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina and 82.5% of the participants have lived in New Orleans for 10 years or longer. In general, the community members in our study were severely affected by Hurricane Katrina. Fifty-eight percent of the participants experienced flooding in their homes and 38% of the participants received 3 feet of water or more in their homes. In general, African Americans in our study were more likely than Whites to experience flooding in their homes. People with homes that flooded also tended to report lower household incomes than people with homes that did not flood. Finally, people who reported flooding in their homes reported worse mental health outcomes including higher levels of depression and anxiety.

    Participants in this study varied in the amount of racism that they perceived in post-Katrina events. For example, whereas some participants reported that they believed racism played a strong role in the federal governments’ response to hurricane victims other participants reported that they believed racism did not play any role in the federal governments’ response. On average, African Americans tended to believe that racism played a stronger role in Katrina-related events as compared to White Americans. However, it should be noted that there were significant numbers of White Americans who perceived high levels of racism as well as African Americans who perceived low levels of racism. In addition, among people who did think that racism played a role in Katrina-related events, people tended to have different reactions to these perceptions of racism. While some reported that they felt threatened and overwhelmed by racism in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, other people reported that they felt challenged by the opportunity to work towards to a more tolerant and inclusive New Orleans.

    We hope to develop a better understanding of why some people perceive high levels of racism while other people perceive low levels of racism. In addition, we will attempt to understand how reactions to perceptions of racism are related to mental health outcomes.

*If you would like to receive more detailed information about the survey results, please contact Dr. Laurie O’Brien at lobrien2@tulane.edu.