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Table 1 Descriptive statistics of participants’ demographic characteristics, earthquake exposure, professional quality of life, and emotional distress assessments

From: A longitudinal study on emotional distress among local government staff seven years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

Variables

1 year (N = 250)

7 years (n = 162)

7-year dropouts (n = 88)

Test of difference a

Demographic

 Age, mean (SD) years

47.06 (7.25)

45.87 (6.41)

49.25 (8.20)

t = − 3.35**

 Male

239 (95.6%)

153 (94.4%)

86 (97.7%)

χ2 = 1.46

 Education years, mean (SD)

10.57 (2.46)

10.76 (2.31)

10.23 (2.70)

t = 1.64

 Without religion

238 (95.2%)

153 (94.4%)

85 (96.6%)

χ2 = 0.58

 Married or partnered

245 (98.0%)

159 (98.1%)

86 (97.7%)

χ2 = 0.05

 Family income, mean (SD) RMB

1866.22 (1647.69)

1860.38 (1785.59)

1876.90 (1369.84)

z = − 0.01

Earthquake exposure

 House damage

   

χ2 = 0.88

  No

10 (4.0%)

8 (4.9%)

2 (2.3%)

 

  Moderate

86 (34.4%)

57 (35.2%)

29 (33.0%)

 

  Severe

148 (59.2%)

97 (59.9%)

51 (58.0%)

 

 Number of moves after earthquake

   

χ2 = 5.89

  0

80 (32.0%)

53 (32.7%)

27 (30.7%)

 

  1

53 (21.2%)

29 (17.9%)

24 (27.3%)

 

  2

49 (19.6%)

34 (21.0%)

15 (17.0%)

 

  3

38 (15.2%)

24 (14.8%)

14 (15.9%)

 

  4

19 (7.6%)

13 (8.0%)

6 (6.8%)

 

  5

9 (3.6%)

8 (4.9%)

1 (1.1%)

 

  6

1 (0.4%)

1 (0.6%)

0

 

 Number of relatives died

   

χ2 = 4.72

  0

217 (86.8%)

141 (87.0%)

76 (86.4%)

 

  1

19 (7.6%)

14 (8.6%)

5 (5.7%)

 

  2

7 (2.8%)

3 (1.9%)

4 (4.5%)

 

  3

3 (1.2%)

1 (0.6%)

2 (2.3%)

 

  4

1 (0.4%)

1 (0.6%)

0

 

  5

0

0

0

 

  6

2 (0.8%)

1 (0.6%)

1 (1.1%)

 

  7

1 (0.4%)

1 (0.6%)

0

 

 Injured

17 (6.8%)

8 (4.9%)

9 (10.2%)

χ2 = 2.52

Professional quality of life b at 1 year

 Compassion satisfaction score, mean (SD)

39.33 (4.84)

39.08 (4.82)

39.81 (4.88)

t = −1.12

 Burnout score, mean (SD)

24.07 (4.68)

24.36 (4.45)

23.51 (5.07)

t = 1.34

 Secondary traumatic stress score, mean (SD)

24.88 (5.87)

24.84 (5.78)

24.96 (6.07)

t = −0.16

Emotional distress c at 1 year, mean (SD)

6.31 (4.21)

6.49 (4.27)

5.98 (4.09)

z = −0.84

  1. aTest of difference between available participants and those dropouts at 7 years
  2. bProfessional quality of life was measured by the Professional Quality of Life Scale, which includes compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress subscales. Higher scores indicated higher levels of compassion satisfaction, or higher risks for burnout or secondary traumatic stress
  3. cEmotional distress was measured by the Self-Reporting Questionnaire, with higher scores indicating more severe emotional distress
  4. **p < 0.01