Community social capital and individual functioning in the post-disaster context

Area of Science:

• Environmental Psychology
• Sociology
• Disaster Recovery Studies

Background:

• Disasters cause severe, lasting harm to individuals and communities.
• Social support is known to mitigate negative disaster impacts.
• The role of neighborhood social capital in disaster recovery is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between flood severity, neighborhood social capital, and individual social support on post-disaster functioning.
• To investigate if pre-existing neighborhood social capital influences recovery.
• To determine if individual social support moderates the impact of flood severity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two waves of survey data collected before and after the 2011 Brisbane flood.
• Assessed individual and neighborhood-level flood severity.
• Measured neighborhood social capital and individual-level social support.

Main Results:

• Flood severity was the strongest predictor of post-disaster functioning.
• No evidence found that pre-flood neighborhood social capital improved subsequent functioning.
• Individual social support was found to moderate the effect of flood severity on functioning.

Conclusions:

• Individual social support, not neighborhood social capital, is crucial for disaster recovery.
• Social support can buffer the negative effects of disaster severity on functioning.
• Future disaster resilience strategies should prioritize strengthening individual social support networks.