Associations of Negative Life Events with Quality of Life: a 10-Year Cohort of Chinese Wenchuan Earthquake Adolescents Survivors

Previous work regarding the relationship between negative life events (NLEs) and survivors’ quality of life (QoL) post-disaster has commonly employed a variable-centered approach. Little is known about the roles of individual variance in time-varying changes of NLEs in future QoL. Moreover, whether sex modifies the impacts of NLEs trajectories on QoL is still understudied. We addressed these issues in the Wenchuan Earthquake Adolescent Health Cohort study. 1357 Chinese adolescents were surveyed at 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-months postearthquake. 799 of them were re-surveyed 10 years after the earthquake. Standardized measures were used to assess NLEs and QoL. 744 responders finally provided available data. Latent class growth analysis estimated trajectories of NLEs, and linear regressions were used to explore the influence of NLEs trajectories on QoL. Three trajectories of NLEs were identified: low group (52.3%), moderate group (39.5%), and high group (8.2%). After adjusting for confounders, individuals in high-risk groups (particularly the high group) were more likely to experience poor overall and all four domain-specific QoL. Additionally, only females in the high group reported poorer overall and other three domains of QoL (social relationships, psychological health, and physical health). Therefore, negative life events within 2 years post-earthquake were associated with poor QoL 10 years later among adolescent survivors. Individualized and targeted psychological interventions should be provided to survivors who experienced chronic life stressors post-earthquake. The sex specificity warrants further research.