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Academic Effects of the Prestige Oil Spill Disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Miguel Pérez-Pereira ,
Carolina Tinajero ,
María Soledad Rodríguez ,
Manuel Peralbo  and
Jose Manuel Sabucedo
Miguel Pérez-Pereira*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Carolina Tinajero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
María Soledad Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Manuel Peralbo
Affiliation:
Universidad de A Coruña (Spain)
Jose Manuel Sabucedo
Affiliation:
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Miguel Pérez-Pereira. Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain). E-mail: miguel.perez.pereira@usc.es
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Abstract

The effect of a large scale oil spill disaster on the academic achievement and classroom behavior of children and adolescents who lived on the Galician coast (Spain) is studied from an ecological perspective. 430 participants divided into three age groups of 5, 10, and 15 years of age, were studied. The participants came from three areas differently affected by the disaster. Dependent variables were academic achievement and classroom behavior of the participants after the Prestige disaster. Degree of exposure and other protective or risk factors were investigated as well. Repeated measures ANOVA to assess the main effects of the oil spill and hierarchical regression analyses to assess the contribution of the protective/vulnerability factors were performed.

The results indicate that the effects of the disaster were relatively scarce. Some protective factors accounted for a certain degree of variance of different schoolroom behaviors. These results point to the intervention of protective factors in the adaptation to the disaster.

Se estudia desde una perspectiva ecológica el efecto que el desastre provocado por un gigantesco vertido de petróleo ha tenido sobre el rendimiento académico y la conducta en el aula de niños y adolescentes que vivían en la costa de Galicia (España). Se estudiaron 430 participantes divididos en tres grupos de, 5, 10 y 15 años. Los participantes provenían de tres áreas que fueron afectadas en grado diferente por el desastre.

Las variables dependientes estudiadas fueron el rendimiento académico y el comportamiento en el aula de los participantes después del desastre del Prestige. El grado de exposición y otros factores de riesgo o protectores fueron también investigados. Se realizaron análisis de varianza (ANOVA) de medidas repetidas para evaluar los efectos más importantes del vertido de petróleo y análisis de regresión jerárquica para evaluar la contribución de los factores protectores o de vulnerabilidad.

Los resultados indican que los efectos del desastre fueron relativamente escasos. Algunos factores protectores explicaron un cierto grado de varianza de diferentes comportamientos en el aula. Estos resultados señalan la intervención de factores protectores en la adaptación al desastre.

Keywords

ecological perspectiveprotective factorsrisk factorsdisastersacademic consequencesperspectiva ecológicafactores protectoresfactores de riesgodesastresconsecuencias académicas
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 1055 - 1068
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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