A Psychophysiological Field Study of Stress at Three Mile Island

ABSTRACT Residents of the area surrounding the Three Mile Island (TMI) nucelar power plant and from a control location 80 miles away participated in a longitudinal study of response to the venting of radioactive gas from the damaged reactor. Four assessments (including one prior to the venting, one...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychophysiology 1985-03, Vol.22 (2), p.175-181
Main Authors: Gatchel, Robert J., Schaeffer, Marc A., Baum, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Catecholamines
Epinephrine
Epinephrine - urine
Epinephrine, Norepinephrine
General aspects
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Norepinephrine
Norepinephrine - urine
Nuclear Reactors
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
SCL-90
Stress
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
TMI
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Summary:ABSTRACT Residents of the area surrounding the Three Mile Island (TMI) nucelar power plant and from a control location 80 miles away participated in a longitudinal study of response to the venting of radioactive gas from the damaged reactor. Four assessments (including one prior to the venting, one during the venting, and two post‐venting) were made using a battery of biochemical, performance, and self‐report measures. Relative to demographically matched control subjects, TMI subjects exhibited higher levels of stress on each mode of this battery. While perceived threat and task performance remained constant during the four assessments for TMI subjects, symptom reporting and urinary catecholamine levels decreased after the krypton gas venting. Since these data were collected more than 17 months after the reactor accident, the findings suggest that the venting procedures had specific acute effects on chronic problems being experienced by TMI subjects, but no global effect across all measures.
ISSN:0048-5772
1469-8986
1540-5958
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1985.tb01582.x