Resource allocation, individual social network, community trust and recovery from depression among rural survivors in the Wenchuan Earthquake

Abstract

Using the three-wave longitudinal survey data of the Wenchuan disaster area, this study employed Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to explore the recovery trajectory from depression of rural survivors after the Wenchuan earthquake. Across the three waves, 221 respondents (118 male, 103 female) provided complete data. We found that, at the individual level, the survivors’ individual social networks had a significant effect on the change in depression scores in the four years following the earthquake, implying that a strong social network could help survivors recover from depression. At the community level, community trust had a significant effect both on the initial depression score at the time of the earthquake and on the survivors’ change in depression scores after the earthquake. Survivors with high community trust had significantly lower depression scores, compared with those with low community trust at the time of the earthquake; however, the depression scores of the former increased in the four years following the earthquake and gradually approached the average depression level. At the social level, relief resource allocation also had a significant effect on the change in survivors’ post-disaster depression; those who deemed the resource allocation to be very fair had a decrease in depression scores. The results of our study show that rich individual social networks and allocation of relief resources contribute to earthquake survivors’ recovery from depression. Therefore, besides providing more adequate relief resources to survivors, we should also emphasize the rebuilding of their social networks.