biostudies-literatureShiba KNIA NIH HHS100006https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9555822biostudies-literatureUnknown1<h4>Introduction</h4>We examined the extent to which the post-disaster deterioration of social support and social capital mediates the associations between disaster-related experiences and depressive symptoms among survivors to test the social support deterioration model.<h4>Methods</h4>We used unique natural experiment data (<i>n</i> = 3567) stemming from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The follow-up survey was conducted 2.5 years after the disaster. We examined associations between changes in depressive symptoms, disaster-related experiences (loss of loved ones, changes in household income, loss of job, drop in subjective economic status, and home loss), and post-disaster deterioration of four different types of social support (i.e., kin emotional, kin instrumental, non-kin emotionWellbeing, space and societyDepressive symptoms in the aftermath of major disaster: Empirical test of the social support deterioration model using natural experiment.PMC9555822R01 AG042463Kawachi IKino SYazawa AKondo KShiba KAida JfalseDepressive symptoms in the aftermath of major disaster: Empirical test of the social support deterioration model using natural experiment.<h4>Introduction</h4>We examined the extent to which the post-disaster deterioration of social support and social capital mediates the associations between disaster-related experiences and depressive symptoms among survivors to test the social support deterioration model.<h4>Methods</h4>We used unique natural experiment data (<i>n</i> = 3567) stemming from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The follow-up survey was conducted 2.5 years after the disaster. We examined associations between changes in depressive symptoms, disaster-related experiences (loss of loved ones, changes in household income, loss of job, drop in subjective economic status, and home loss), and post-disaster deterioration of four different types of social support (i.e., kin emotional, kin instrumental, non-kin emotion2020-01-01T00:00:00Z20202025-04-18T22:54:52.971Z2025-04-07T10:43:46.733ZS-EPMC95558223623844610.1016/j.wss.2020.100006