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Postdisaster Changes in Social Capital and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment From the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Authors :
Sato, Koryu
Amemiya, Airi
Haseda, Maho
Takagi, Daisuke
Kanamori, Mariko
Kondo, Katsunori
Kondo, Naoki
Source :
American Journal of Epidemiology. Sep2020, Vol. 189 Issue 9, p910-921. 12p.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

Levels of social capital can change after a natural disaster; thus far, no study has examined how changes in social capital affect the mental health of disaster victims. In this study, we examined how predisaster social capital and its changes after a disaster were associated with the onset of mental disorders. In October 2013, we mailed a questionnaire to participants in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study living in Mifune, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and measured predisaster social capital. In April 2016, the Kumamoto earthquake struck the region. Three years after the baseline survey, postdisaster social capital and symptoms of mental disorders were measured using the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health (n  = 828). Multiple Poisson regression indicated that a 1-standard-deviation change in predisaster social cohesion at the community level reduced the risk of depression among women (relative risk = 0.44, 95% confidence interval: 0.24, 0.78); a decline in social capital after the disaster elevated the risk (relative risk = 2.44, 95% confidence interval: 1.33, 4.47). In contrast to social cohesion, high levels of social participation at the community level were positively associated with the risk of depression among women. Policy-makers should pay attention to sex differences and types of social capital when leveraging social capital for recovery from disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00029262
Volume :
189
Issue :
9
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
American Journal of Epidemiology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
145295197
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa041