"we can help ourselves": Does community resilience buffer against the negative impact of flooding on mental health?

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Abstract

Empirical evidence of the relationship between social support and post-disaster mental health provides support for a general beneficial effect of social support (main-effect model; Wheaton, 1985). From a theoretical perspective, a buffering effect of social support on the negative relationship between disaster-related stress and mental health also seems plausible (stress-buffering model; Wheaton, 1985). Previous studies, however, (a) have paid less attention to the buffering effect of social support and (b) have mainly relied on interpersonal support (but not collective-level support such as community resilience) when investigating this issue. This previous work might have underestimated the effect of support on post-disaster mental health. Building on a sample of residents in Germany recently affected by flooding (N = 118), we show that community resilience to flooding (but not general interpersonal social support) buffered against the negative effects of flooding on post-disaster mental health. The results support the stress-buffering model and call for a more detailed look at the relationship between support and resilience and post-disaster adjustment, including collective-level variables.

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Masson, T., Bamberg, S., Stricker, M., & Heidenreich, A. (2019). “we can help ourselves”: Does community resilience buffer against the negative impact of flooding on mental health? Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 19(11), 2371–2384. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-2371-2019

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