Posttraumatic recovery to distress symptoms ratio: a mediator of the links between gender, exposure to fire, economic condition, and three indices of resilience to fire disaster.

This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of demographic predictors on level of resilience following a potentially traumatic event. We hypothesized that the direct effects of three variables (exposure to fire hazards, gender, and economic condition) on resilience following a fire disaster would be mediated by the proportion of posttraumatic recovery to post-fire distress symptoms. The sample consisted of 234 Israeli Druze youth whose hometown was endangered and damaged by the Mount Carmel fire disaster in December 2010. Results partially supported the research hypotheses.