IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0102497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Health and Related Factors after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Author

Listed:
  • Yukari Yokoyama
  • Kotaro Otsuka
  • Norito Kawakami
  • Seiichiro Kobayashi
  • Akira Ogawa
  • Kozo Tannno
  • Toshiyuki Onoda
  • Yumi Yaegashi
  • Kiyomi Sakata

Abstract

Mental health is one of the most important issues facing disaster survivors. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence and correlates of mental health problems in survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami at 6–11 months after the disaster. The questionnaire and notification were sent to the survivors in three municipalities in the Tohoku area of the Northern part of Honshu, Japan’s largest island, between September 2011 and February 2012. Questionnaires were sent to 12,772, 11,411, and 18,648 residents in the Yamada, Otsuchi, and Rikuzentakata municipalities, respectively. Residents were asked to bring the completed questionnaires to their health check-ups. A total of 11,124 or (26.0%) of them underwent health check-ups, and 10,198 were enrolled. We excluded 179 for whom a K6 score was missing and two who were both 17 years of age, which left 10,025 study participants (3,934 male and 6,091 female, mean age 61.0 years). K6 was used to measure mental health problems. The respondents were classified into moderate (5–12 of K6) and serious mental health problems (13+). A total of 42.6% of the respondents had moderate or serious mental health problems. Multivariate analysis showed that women were significantly associated with mental health problems. Other variables associated with mental health problems were: younger male, health complaints, severe economic status, relocations, and lack of a social network. An interaction effect of sex and economic status on severe mental health problems was statistically significant. Our findings suggest that mental health problems were prevalent in survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. For men and women, health complaints, severe economic status, relocations, and lack of social network may be important risk factors of poor mental health. For men, interventions focusing on economic support may be particularly useful in reducing mental health problems after the disaster.

Suggested Citation

  • Yukari Yokoyama & Kotaro Otsuka & Norito Kawakami & Seiichiro Kobayashi & Akira Ogawa & Kozo Tannno & Toshiyuki Onoda & Yumi Yaegashi & Kiyomi Sakata, 2014. "Mental Health and Related Factors after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0102497
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0102497
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0102497&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0102497?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Artazcoz, L. & Benach, J. & Borrell, C. & Cortès, I., 2004. "Unemployment and Mental Health: Understanding the Interactions among Gender, Family Roles, and Social Class," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(1), pages 82-88.
    2. Inaba, Akihide & Thoits, Peggy A. & Ueno, Koji & Gove, Walter R. & Evenson, Ranae J. & Sloan, Melissa, 2005. "Depression in the United States and Japan: Gender, marital status, and SES patterns," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2280-2292, December.
    3. Seplaki, Christopher L. & Goldman, Noreen & Weinstein, Maxine & Lin, Yu-Hsuan, 2006. "Before and after the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake: Traumatic events and depressive symptoms in an older population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 3121-3132, June.
    4. Frankenberg, E. & Friedman, J. & Gillespie, T. & Ingwersen, N. & Pynoos, R. & Rifai, I.U. & Sikoki, B. & Steinberg, A. & Sumantri, C. & Suriastini, W. & Thomas, D., 2008. "Mental health in Sumatra after the tsunami," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(9), pages 1671-1677.
    5. Sakurai, Keiko & Kawakami, Norito & Yamaoka, Kazue & Ishikawa, Hirono & Hashimoto, Hideki, 2010. "The impact of subjective and objective social status on psychological distress among men and women in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1832-1839, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karen Yirmiya & Noa Yakirevich-Amir & Heidi Preis & Amit Lotan & Shir Atzil & Inbal Reuveni, 2021. "Women’s Depressive Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Koubun Wakashima & Keigo Asai & Taku Hiraizumi & Shuji Noguchi, 2019. "Trajectories of psychological stress among public servants after the Great East Japan Earthquake," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Sangwon Lee & Jennifer M. First, 2022. "Mental Health Impacts of Tornadoes: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-12, October.
    4. Sone, Toshimasa & Nakaya, Naoki & Sugawara, Yumi & Tomata, Yasutake & Watanabe, Takashi & Tsuji, Ichiro, 2016. "Longitudinal association between time-varying social isolation and psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 96-101.
    5. Masatsugu Orui, 2022. "Suicide and Suicide Prevention Activities Following the Great East Japan Earthquake 2011: A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2019. "The Current Health and Wellbeing of the Survivors of the Rana Plaza Building Collapse in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Ryoma Kayano & Mingming Lin & Yasuko Shinozaki & Shuhei Nomura & Yoshiharu Kim, 2022. "Long-Term Mental Health Support after Natural Hazard Events: A Report from an Online Survey among Experts in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-10, March.
    8. Rui Zhang & Yunzhi Zhang & Zhe Dai, 2022. "Impact of Natural Disasters on Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on the 2014 China Family Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-17, February.
    9. Fumikazu Hayashi & Tetsuya Ohira & Shiho Sato & Hironori Nakano & Kanako Okazaki & Masanori Nagao & Michio Shimabukuro & Akira Sakai & Junichiro James Kazama & Mitsuaki Hosoya & Atsushi Takahashi & Ma, 2022. "Association between Dietary Diversity and Sociopsychological Factors and the Onset of Dyslipidemia after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Fukushima Health Management Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Onur Altindag & Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2022. "Mental Health Costs of Lockdowns: Evidence from Age-Specific Curfews in Turkey," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 320-343, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Barnay & Éric Defebvre, 2019. "Gender Differences in the Influence of Mental Health on Job Retention," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 33(4), pages 507-532, December.
    2. Thomas Barnay, 2016. "Health, work and working conditions: a review of the European economic literature," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 693-709, July.
    3. Thijs Fassaert & Matty A.S. De Wit & Wilco C. Tuinebreijer & Jeroen W. Knipscheer & Arnoud P. Verhoeff & Aartjan T.F. Beekman & Jack Dekker, 2011. "Acculturation and Psychological Distress Among Non-Western Muslim Migrants - a Population-Based Survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 57(2), pages 132-143, March.
    4. Kirsi Talala & Taina Huurre & Hillevi Aro & Tuija Martelin & Ritva Prättälä, 2008. "Socio-demographic Differences in Self-reported Psychological Distress Among 25- to 64-Year-Old Finns," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 323-335, April.
    5. Elizabeth Frankenberg & Thomas Gillespie & Samuel Preston & Bondan Sikoki & Duncan Thomas, 2011. "Mortality, The Family and The Indian Ocean Tsunami," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(554), pages 162-182, August.
    6. Lallukka, Tea & Lahelma, Eero & Rahkonen, Ossi & Roos, Eva & Laaksonen, Elina & Martikainen, Pekka & Head, Jenny & Brunner, Eric & Mosdol, Annhild & Marmot, Michael & Sekine, Michikazu & Nasermoaddeli, 2008. "Associations of job strain and working overtime with adverse health behaviors and obesity: Evidence from the Whitehall II Study, Helsinki Health Study, and the Japanese Civil Servants Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1681-1698, April.
    7. Mooli Lahad & Ran Cohen & Stratos Fanaras & Dmitry Leykin & Penny Apostolopoulou, 2018. "Resiliency and Adjustment in Times of Crisis, the Case of the Greek Economic Crisis from a Psycho-social and Community Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 333-356, January.
    8. Bruno Arpino & Pierluigi Conzo & Francesco Salustri, 2022. "I am a survivor, keep on surviving: early-life exposure to conflict and subjective survival probabilities in adult life," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 471-517, April.
    9. Achyuta Adhvaryu & James Fenske & Anant Nyshadham, 2014. "Early Life Circumstance and Mental Health in Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-03, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    10. Janneke Pieters & Samantha Rawlings, 2020. "Parental unemployment and child health in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 207-237, March.
    11. Shahe S. Kazarian, 2009. "Validation of the Armenian Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (Ces-D) Among Ethnic Armenians in Lebanon," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 55(5), pages 442-448, September.
    12. Tachibana, Towa & Goto, Rie & Sakurai, Takeshi & Rayamajhi, Santosh & Adhikari, Angel & Dow, William H., 2019. "Do remittances alleviate negative impacts of disaster on mental health? A case of the 2015 Nepal earthquake," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Salm, Martin, 2009. "Does Job Loss Cause Ill Health?," IZA Discussion Papers 4147, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Salm, M, 2008. "Job loss does not cause ill health," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 08/16, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. World Bank, 2012. "Resilience, Equity, and Opportunity [Capacidad de recuperación, equidad y oportunidades]," World Bank Publications - Reports 12648, The World Bank Group.
    16. Achyuta Adhvaryu & James Fenske & Anant Nyshadham, 2019. "Early Life Circumstance and Adult Mental Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1516-1549.
    17. Concepción Moreno-Maldonado & Antonia Jiménez-Iglesias & Francisco Rivera & Carmen Moreno, 2020. "Characterization of Resilient Adolescents in the Context of Parental Unemployment," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(2), pages 681-702, April.
    18. Woorim Kim & Myung Ki & Minjae Choi & Areum Song, 2019. "Comparable Risk of Suicidal Ideation between Workers at Precarious Employment and Unemployment: Data from the Korean Welfare Panel Study, 2012–2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-10, August.
    19. Spruit, Anouk & van der Put, Claudia & Gubbels, Jeanne & Bindels, Anner, 2017. "Age differences in the severity, impact and relative importance of dynamic risk factors for recidivism," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 69-77.
    20. Blight, Karin Johansson & Ekblad, Solvig & Persson, Jan-Olov & Ekberg, Jan, 2006. "Mental health, employment and gender. Cross-sectional evidence in a sample of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina living in two Swedish regions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1697-1709, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0102497. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.