Review on Gender Difference in HSB and PTG after Natural Disaster

Abstract

Millions of people are affected by the natural disasters in different regions of world. Survivors often witnesses prolong psychological distress by the death of loved one, damage of property, injuries and shortage of basic need. However, individual differences occur in their struggle with trauma, they also manifest positive change which is known as Post traumatic growth (Kleim & Ehlers, 2009). This growth can occur in both male and female survivors, findings of researches are inconsistent. Help seeking behaviour refers to person’s communication to seek guidance and support for treatment either formally from the professionals or informally. Researches on HSB show few trends. Young people and female seek help informally before they ask for the formal help whereas male try to avoid seek help at first (Benson, 1990; Offer, Howard, Schonert, & Ostrov, 1991; Rickwood & Braithwaite, 1994). As per authors knowledge there is no published study available on gender role in help seeking behavior and PTG in natural disaster. The purpose to conduct this review article is to fill this gap in the literature. Furthermore, this will determine a role gender can play when seeking help and developing PTG and will help professionals to make treatment plans for different genders according to their needs.