{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:27:53Z","timestamp":1787027273846,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,27]],"date-time":"2024-08-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724716800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Maladaptive behaviors during a disaster refer to actions that do not benefit the individual or society. Quarantelli highlights several maladaptive behaviors myths associated with disasters: widespread antisocial behavior, passivity, role conflict or abandonment, and sudden widespread mental health breakdowns (1). Despite early work reporting these myths, the common perception is that maladaptive behaviors such as rioting, looting, panic, and criminal conduct are prevalent in the wake of disasters. This is despite research by de Ville de Goyet and Arnold which has called on public officials and the media to stop propagating false disaster myths (2, 3). The classic academic response has been that this is a misconception and that, in fact, such behaviors are a very small part of the overall disaster and are mostly non-existent. Misconceptions about the prevalence of maladaptive behaviors can lead to inappropriate resource allocation, such as allocating extra police officers to prevent looting when the overall crime rate for the most part, decreases during disasters (4). Furthermore, while there are several persistent maladaptive behaviors myths, this is confounded by the presence of actual negative behaviors post disaster: false damage claims, insurance fraud, illegally obtaining relief supplies, failure to provide contracted repair services, hoarding of essential items, psychological trauma (which can lead to intergenerational transmission of the disaster memory) and medications and price gouging (5).When reading lay-press articles about recent disasters, it appears that these behaviors are on the rise. This raises the question: Has there been a change in the basic human reaction to disasters and are maladaptive behaviors on the rise? This review article focuses on case studies from three natural disasters: Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina, and the Haiti Earthquake. The goal of this review article is to evaluate these three natural disasters for evidence of maladaptive behaviors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1396517","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,27]],"date-time":"2024-08-27T00:32:19Z","timestamp":1724718739000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Maladaptive behaviors in disasters: case study evaluation of Hurricane Hugo, Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Andrew M.","family":"Milsten","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher S.","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ira","family":"Nemeth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1353\/sor.2008.0003","article-title":"Convential beliefs and counterintuitive realities","volume":"75","author":"Quarantelli","year":"2008","journal-title":"Soc Res: Int Q Soc Sci"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"762","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)02642-8","article-title":"Stop propagating disaster myths","volume":"356","author":"Ville de Goyet","year":"2000","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1017\/S1049023X00003241","article-title":"Disaster myths and hurricane Katrina 2005: can public officials and the media learn to provide responsible crisis communication during disasters?","volume":"21","author":"Arnold","year":"2006","journal-title":"Prehosp Disaster Med"},{"key":"ref4","article-title":"Looting and Antisocial Behavior in Disasters","volume-title":"Encylopedia of Criminology","author":"Quarantelli","year":"1994"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1107","DOI":"10.1037\/tra0000528","article-title":"Long-term intergenerational transmission of memories of the Vajont disaster","volume":"14","author":"Raccanello","year":"2022","journal-title":"Psychol Trauma"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1177\/0002716205285589","article-title":"Metaphors matter: disaster myths, media frames, and their consequences in hurricane Katrina. Shelter from the storm: repairing the National Emergency Management System after hurricane Katrina","volume":"604","author":"Tierney","year":"2006","journal-title":"Special Issue Annals American Acad Political Soc Sci"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"2","article-title":"The myth and the realities: keeping the \u201clooting\u201d myth in perspective","volume":"31","author":"Quarantelli","year":"2007","journal-title":"Natural Hazards Observer"},{"key":"ref8","article-title":"Disaster Realities in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Revisiting the Looting Myth","volume-title":"Quick Response Research Report","author":"Barksy","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref9","volume-title":"After Katrina, crimes of the imagination","author":"Dwyer","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref10","volume-title":"An evaluation of the impact of hurricane Katrina on crime in New Orleans, Louisiana, in applied research projects","author":"Bailey","year":"2009"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"555","DOI":"10.1177\/003335490812300505","article-title":"Disaster mythology and fact: hurricane Katrina and Social attachment","volume":"123","author":"Jacob","year":"2008","journal-title":"Public Health Rep"},{"key":"ref12","volume-title":"Hai, earthquake: Crisis and response.","author":"Taft-Morales","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref13","first-page":"2014","volume-title":"Haiti aid bottleneck is easing up","author":"News","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref14","first-page":"2014","volume-title":"US troop landings delay Haiti aid","author":"Andersen","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref15","first-page":"A1","volume-title":"Looting flares where authority breaks down","author":"Romero","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref16","volume-title":"Haiti earthquake: looting and gun-fights break out, in the Telegraph","author":"Sawer","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref17","volume-title":"Haiti earthquake: law and order on a knife edge, in the Telegraph","author":"Leonard","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref18","volume-title":"Doctor: Misinformation and Rascism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, in Democracy Now!","author":"Goodman","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref19","volume-title":"Updates on the Crisis in Haiti, in The Lede","author":"Mackey","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1111\/disa.12077","article-title":"Trust via disasters: the case of Chile's 2010 earthquake","volume":"38","author":"Dussaillant","year":"2014","journal-title":"Disasters"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"S190","DOI":"10.1111\/disa.12073","article-title":"Disaster myths after the great East Japan disaster and the effects of information sources on belief in such myths","volume":"38","author":"Nogami","year":"2014","journal-title":"Disasters"},{"key":"ref22","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref23","volume-title":"But there was looting in Japan, in Chicago","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref24","first-page":"416","article-title":"Group behaviour under stress: a required convergence of organizational and collective behvariol perspectives","volume":"52","author":"Dynes","year":"1968","journal-title":"Sociol Soc Res"},{"key":"ref25","volume-title":"Looting in Disaster: A General Profile of Victimization","author":"Gray","year":"1984"},{"key":"ref26","volume-title":"Response to Disaster, Fact versus Fiction and its Perpetuation: The Sociology of Disaster","author":"Fischer","year":"1998"},{"key":"ref27","volume-title":"Common Misconceptions about Disasters: Panic, the \u2018Disaster Syndrome,\u2019 and Looting.","author":"der Heide","year":"2004"},{"key":"ref28","volume-title":"Katrina\u2019s Wake, Inaccurate Rumors Sullied Victims in the Washington Post","author":"Britt","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1177\/028072708800600305","article-title":"The NORC research on the Arkansas tornado: a fountainhead study","volume":"6","author":"Quarantelli","year":"1988","journal-title":"Int J Mass Emerg Disasters"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"918","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00132.x","article-title":"Predicting evacuation in two major disasters: risk perception, social influence, and access to resources","volume":"29","author":"Riad","year":"1999","journal-title":"J Appl Soc Psychol"},{"key":"ref31","volume-title":"Responding with money and ammo; 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