Collective trauma in the wake of historical environmental contamination

Chronic environmental contamination is a prevalent environmental justice issue. Few studies have considered that such exposures may be a source of collective trauma – shared negative mental health outcomes that persist across decades and generations. An observational survey ( N  = 363) in the predominantly low-income Latine community on the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund site used community-engaged door-to-door and social media recruitment to compare those potentially exposed to historical contamination to non-exposed residents on mental health outcomes. Potential mediators (e.g. health concerns) and moderators (e.g. racial-ethnic identity) were also assessed. Analyses revealed elevated post-traumatic stress in the exposed group which was mediated by material (e.g. health concerns), social (e.g. environmental justice concerns), and “lifescape” (e.g. shattered assumptions about the world) impacts. We argue that contamination may indeed be a source of collective trauma based on our review of the literature. Community-engaged research should continue documenting and intervening on the collective trauma of contamination.