cognitive and psychological reactions of the general population three months after the 2011 tohoku earthquake and tsunami一般人的认知和心理反应三个月后2011年日本东北部地震和海啸.pdf

Cognitive and Psychological Reactions of the General Population Three Months After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami 1 2 2 2 3 Yasushi Kyutoku *, Ryoko Tada , Takahiko Umeyama , Kenji Harada , Senichiro Kikuchi , Eiju 4 5 1 Watanabe , Angela Liegey-Dougall , Ippeita Dan * 1 Functional Brain Science Laboratory, Center for Development of Advanced Medical Technology, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan, 2 Department of Marketing and Research, Cross Marketing Inc. Tokyo, Japan, 3 Department of Psychiatry, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan, 4 Department of Neurosurgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan, 5 Department of Psychology, College of Science, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas, United States of America Abstract Background: The largest earthquake on record in Japan (magnitude 9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011, and the subsequent tsunami devastated the Pacific coast of Northern Japan. These further triggered the Fukushima I nuclear power plant accidents. Such a hugely complex disaster inevitably has negative psychological effects on general populations as well as on the direct victims. While previous disaster studies enrolled descriptive approaches focusing on direct victims, the structure of the psychological adjustment process of people from the general population has remained uncertain. The current study attempted to establish a path model that sufficiently reflects the early psychological adaptation process of the general population to large-scale natural disasters. Methods and Findings: Participants from the primary disaster area (n = 1083) and other areas (n = 2372) voluntarily participated