Health Highlights: April 19, 2008

From alcohol abuse to the loss of a home, new research continues to assess the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and the toll it extracted from its victims.

In a study presented this week at the Population Association of America's annual meeting in New Orleans, University of Michigan researchers reported that Katrina survivors were more than three times likelier to exhibit alcohol abuse after a stress experience. And if the survivor experienced a trauma, they were five times more likely to become alcohol dependent.

The difference between a stress and a trauma is one of degree, said study co-author Sandro Galea, an associate professor at the university's School of Public Health. An example of stress might be dealing with insurance companies or contractors; a trauma is losing a loved one, he said.

Another paper found that New Orleans residents who lost their homes in the 2005 storm were more than five times more likely to experience serious psychological distress a year after the disaster than those who did not.

The study, by University of Michigan researcher Narayan Sastry and Tulane University's Mark VanLandingham, examined the mental health of pre-Katrina New Orleans residents in the fall of 2006 -- one year after the hurricane. In all, about 66 percent of the respondents reported that their homes were badly damaged or unlivable.

"Our findings suggest that severe damage to one's home is a particularly important factor behind socioeconomic disparities in psychological distress, and possibly behind the levels of psychological distress," Sastry said. "These effects may be partly economic, because, for most families who own their home, home equity is the largest element of household wealth.

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When It Comes to Happiness, It Really Is a Shade of Gray

Oh to be young again? Not so fast, says a new study that found that older Americans tend to be happier than younger ones.

The University of Chicago study also found that baby boomers aren't as content as other generations, blacks are less happy than whites, women are happier than men, and as people age, their happiness increases.

"Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life. The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people's needs," study author Yang Yang, an assistant professor of sociology, said in a prepared statement.

The study was based on data from the General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Yang charted happiness across age and racial groups and found that among 18-year-olds, white men are the happiest, with a 33 percent probability of being very happy, followed by white women (28 percent), black women (18 percent) and black men (15 percent).