Am J Epidemiol. 2020 Nov 2;189(11):1369-1378. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwaa085.
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, 7 months before the disaster in Iwanuma, a Japanese city located 80 km from the epicenter. Disaster-related personal experiences (e.g., housing damage or relocation) were assessed through a follow-up survey (n = 3,594; follow-up rate, 82.1%) conducted in 2013, 2.5 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 3 subscales 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.
社区中社会关系的强度（“社会资本”）被假设为灾难恢复能力的关键因素。我们研究了经历 2011 年东日本大地震和海啸的老年居民的社区层面的社会资本是否与维持其功能能力的能力相关。我们的队列的基线（平均年龄为 74 岁）于 2010 年建立，即在距离震中 80 公里的日本城市岩沼发生灾难前 7 个月。通过 2013 年进行的一项后续调查（n=3594；随访率为 82.1%）评估了与灾难相关的个人经历（例如住房损坏或搬迁）。使用多成员多层次模型评估了功能能力（通过日常生活工具量表衡量）与社区层面社会资本的 3 个子量表之间的关联：社会凝聚力、社会参与度和互惠性。社会参与度与灾难暴露后功能下降的风险降低有关。社区层面的社会参与平均水平也减轻了住房损坏对功能状态的不利影响，这表明存在缓冲机制。
