TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Associations between community social capital and preservation of functional capacity in the aftermath of a major disaster
JO  - American journal of epidemiology
A1  - Gero, Krisztina
A1  - Hikichi, Hiroyuki
A1  - Aida, Jun
A1  - Kondo, Katsunori
A1  - Kawachi, Ichiro
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - The strength of social connections in the community ("social capital") is hypothesized to be a crucial ingredient in disaster resilience. We examined whether community-level social capital is correlated with the ability to maintain functional capacity among older residents who experienced the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The baseline of our cohort (mean age 74 years) was established in 2010, seven months before the disaster in Iwanuma, a Japanese city located 80-km from the epicenter. Disaster related personal experiences (e.g., housing damage/relocation) were assessed through a follow-up survey (n=3594; follow-up rate: 82.1%) conducted in 2013, two and a half years after the earthquake. Multiple membership multilevel models were used to evaluate the associations between functional capacity - measured by the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale - and three sub-scales of community-level social capital; social cohesion, social participation, and reciprocity. Community-level social participation was associated with a lower risk of functional decline after disaster exposure. The average level of social participation in the community also mitigated the adverse impact of housing damage on functional status, suggesting a buffering mechanism.<br><br>© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-9262
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa085
ID  - ref1
ER  -