New insights into the relationship between drought and mental health: Empirical evidence from the Australian Rural Mental Health Study

Abstract:

While the effects of drought on mental health are well recognised in the literature, few population based longitudinal studies quantify this relationship. In this study, we investigate the effects of drought on mental health outcomes, and how these change when considering the duration of drought exposure. Using a panel dataset consisting of 6519 observations from the Australian Rural Mental Health Study, we found a nonlinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between drought exposure and mental health. Specifically, people experienced an increase of psychological distress for the first 30-40 months of drought, after which time this distress dissipates. These effects were maintained after controlling for a range of demographic, social, and environmental factors. We also conducted further analyses and conclude that while mental health resilience is established in the later stages of drought, this does not necessarily mean people display good mental health conditions, as factors such as despair and low satisfaction with life were maintained. This is an important finding because reduction in acute distress after 30-40 months into a drought could be mistaken for an indication that drought assistance interventions have done their job and can be relaxed when in fact this assistance should be continued, and possibly increased, until the drought is finished.