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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 May 13.
Published in final edited form as: Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2022 Jan 21;76(4):97–105. doi: 10.1111/pcn.13322

Table 2.

Sociodemographic characteristics and key effect modifiers among individuals at the top 10% versus the bottom 10% of the estimated conditional average treatment effect of disaster damages on depressive symptoms and PTSS in 2013,

Outcome Depressive symptoms§ PTSS


Exposure Home loss (n = 1559) Loss of loved ones (n = 1583) Home loss (n = 1630) Loss of loved ones (n = 1644)


Group Vulnerable (n = 156) Resilient (n = 156) Vulnerable (n = 159) Resilient (n = 159) Vulnerable (n = 163) Resilient (n = 163) Vulnerable (n = 165) Resilient (n = 165)

CATE estimates, mean (SD)†† 1.75 (0.16) 0.98 (0.19) 0.37 (0.10) −0.18 (0.06) 1.70 (0.06) 0.81 (0.13) 0.87 (0.05) 0.44 (0.05)
Age, mean (SD), y 73.0 (6.40) 74.0 (6.52) 73.1 (6.72) 72.9 (5.81) 70.6 (5.14) 76.3 (7.47) 73.2 (5.99) 70.8 (4.71)
Sex, n (%)
 Men 66 (42.3) 87 (55.8) 64 (40.3) 78 (49.1) 76 (46.6) 103 (63.2) 88 (53.3) 92 (55.8)
 Women 90 (57.7) 69 (44.2) 95 (59.7) 81 (50.9) 87 (53.4) 60 (36.8) 77 (46.7) 73 (44.2)
Marital status, n (%)
 Married 125 (80.1) 97 (62.2) 112(70.4) 132 (83.0) 147 (90.2) 88 (54.0) 111 (67.3) 133 (80.6)
 Widowed 31 (19.9) 52 (33.3) 42 (26.4) 18 (11.3) 12 (7.4) 65 (39.9) 47 (28.5) 23 (13.9)
 Divorced 0(0) 4 (2.6) 2(1.3) 3(1.9) 1 (0.6) 3(1.8) 5 (3.0) 3(1.8)
 Single 0 (0) 3 (1.9) 2(1.3) 6 (3.8) 2(1.2) 7 (4.3) 1 (0.6) 6 (3.6)
 Other 0 (0) 0(0) 1 (0.6) 0 (0) 1 (0.6) 0(0) 1 (0.6) 0(0)
Living alone, n (%)
 Not living alone 146 (93.6) 134 (85.9) 147 (92.5) 151 (95.0) 158 (96.9) 143 (87.7) 147 (89.1) 155 (93.9)
 Living alone 10 (6.4) 22 (14.1) 12 (7.5) 8 (5.0) 5(3.1) 20(12.3) 18 (10.9) 10 (6.1)
Education, n (%)
 <6 y 0(0) 5 (3.2) 6 (3.8) 0(0) 1 (0.6) 10(6.1) 2(1.2) 1 (0.6)
 6–9 y 40 (25.6) 41 (26.3) 85 (53.5) 22 (13.8) 11 (6.7) 75 (46.0) 50 (30.3) 22 (13.3)
 10–12y 72 (46.2) 72 (46.2) 56 (35.2) 74 (46.5) 88 (54.0) 51 (31.3) 84 (50.9) 96 (58.2)
 ≥13 yr 44 (28.2) 38 (24.4) 12 (7.5) 63 (39.6) 63 (38.7) 27 (16.6) 28 (17.0) 46 (27.9)
 Other 0 (0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (0.6) 0(0)
Job, n (%)
 Working 40 (25.6) 20 (12.8) 33 (20.8) 23 (14.5) 35 (21.5) 24 (14.7) 41 (24.8) 26 (15.8)
 Retired 93 (59.6) 110 (70.5) 101 (63.5) 100 (62.9) 102 (62.6) 99 (60.7) 96 (58.2) 116 (70.3)
 Never worked 23 (14.7) 26 (16.7) 25 (15.7) 36 (22.6) 26 (16.0) 40 (24.5) 28 (17.0) 23 (13.9)
Household income [10 000 yen], mean (SD)‡‡ 329 (249) 225 (117) 186 (138) 263 (124) 282 (108) 200 (175) 155 (97.2) 294 (125)
Body mass index, mean (SD) 23.5 (2.66) 22.0 (3.98) 23.7 (3.11) 23.6 (2.82) 22.7 (1.99) 23.5 (3.68) 24.0 (2.77) 23.1 (3.05)
Sense of coherence, mean (SD) 22.3 (3.54) 19.6 (4.78) 19.2 (4.34) 22.9 (3.52) 26.8 (2.13) 17.5 (3.39) 22.2 (3.84) 22.3 (4.20)
Baseline GDS score, mean (SD) 3.04 (2.69) 5.70 (4.45) 6.63 (4.21) 2.96 (2.78) 0.87 (1.16) 7.79 (3.78) 3.41 (3.25) 2.84 (3.06)
Self-rated health, n (%)
 Bad 21 (13.5) 7 (4.5) 19(11.9) 17 (10.7) 34 (20.9) 10(6.1) 4 (2.4) 42 (25.5)
 Not good 116 (74.4) 76 (48.7) 91 (57.2) 95 (59.7) 126 (77.3) 79 (48.5) 131 (79.4) 112 (67.9)
 Good 17 (10.9) 45 (28.8) 38 (23.9) 42 (26.4) 3(1.8) 57 (35.0) 28 (17.0) 9 (5.5)
 Very good 2(1.3) 28 (17.9) 11 (6.9) 5(3.1) 0 (0) 17(10.4) 2(1.2) 2(1.2)

As key effect modifiers, we chose the top 3 variables in the variable importance ranking from generalized random forest.

The top 10% of the distributions of individual effects were labeled as the “vulnerable” group because they showed greater associations between disaster damages and increased depressive symptoms/posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The bottom 10% of the distributions of individual effects were labeled as the “resilient” group because they showed weaker associations between disaster damages and increased depressive symptoms/PTSS.

§

We used the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS; range, 0–15 points; higher scores indicate more PTSS) to assess depressive symptoms.

We used the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health (range, 0–9 points; higher scores indicate more PTSS) to assess PTSS.

††

Conditional average treatment effects (CATEs) were estimated via the generalized random forest algorithm.

‡‡

Annual household income (unit: 10 000 yen) was divided by the square root of the number of household members to account for household size.