Dynamic Patterns of Personal Networks with Neighbors and Their Determinants After the Great East Japan Earthquake:

Abstract

After a natural disaster, neighborhood networks play a key role in the overall recovery of victims and communities. Nevertheless, few quantitative studies have explored how victims form, maintain, and lose these networks over long periods after disasters. In this study, I investigated the dynamic patterns of personal networks with neighbors and their determinants using longitudinal survey data collected from victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. This analysis focused on three aspects: (1) to test hypotheses regarding similarities and differences in the dynamic patterns of information and material exchange networks; (2) to use longitudinal data from five survey points during approximately 10 years post-disaster; and (3) to adopt a group-based trajectory modeling approach to identify personal network dynamics. The main findings are as follows: (a) Victims in the same city progressed to several different trajectory patterns; (b) Specifically, inverted U-shaped and low/stable patterns were observed for the information exchange network, the U-shaped pattern was a specific trend for the material exchange network, and declining patterns were commonly observed for both networks; (c) In both networks, whether the victims progressed to a pattern of larger or smaller network sizes depended on the relative advantage/disadvantage disparity between them before the disaster.