Effects of social capital on mental health of disaster victims: Evidence from the Wenchuan earthquake

Abstract

This study uses longitudinal survey data collected after the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008 to analyze the chronological changes in victims' mental health as well as the effects of social capital and the perceived justice of disaster relief. We find that the size and strength of the victims’ social network and their perception of the fairness of the disaster relief significantly affected the changes in their mental health. The mental health growth rate (i.e., changes in mental health after the earthquake) of victims with large social networks and strong ties was higher than that of victims with small networks and weak ties. In addition, the mental health growth rate of victims with large social networks and strong ties who believed that the disaster relief was fair was significantly higher than that of victims who believed that the disaster relief was unfair. The results of this study indicate that social capital and fair disaster relief can alleviate the negative impact of an earthquake on the mental health of the victims; therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to policy fairness and relationship networks in the disaster relief process.