Moderating Effects of Social Capital on Depression in Later Years of Life

Background and Purpose

Older adults with depression are at greater risk for suicide, impairment of social functioning, and hospitalization. It is critical to find ways in which to reduce late-life depression and promote older adults’ healthy lives. One protective factor against late-life depression is community social capital. Community social capital is a type of social resources available to individuals, which is embedded in the community. According to stress buffering model, community social capital is expected to decrease the adverse effects of stress on individuals’ mental health and impact positively on health and mental well-being. However, few studies applied stress buffering model to examine the impact of community social capital on older adults’ depression. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship community social capital and depression and buffering effects of community social capital using the framework of the stress-buffering model.

Methods

This study used the data from the second wave of National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP, 2010-2012). A total of 2,409 older adults aged 65 to 85 were included in the present study. Depression was measured by the CES-D scale. Perceived stress was assessed by four items from Cohen’s global stress scale. Community social capital consisted of community social cohesion, community social tie, and neighborhood safety. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted to examine the relationship between stress and depression with community social capital as a moderator. Interaction term was included in the subsequent analysis. Demographic characteristics were controlled for all data analyses. The log-likelihood ratio test was used to test if the latent interaction model was more parsimonious than the model without interaction terms by comparing the log-likelihood values of two models.

Results

The proposed model appeared to be a good fit to the data: c²  (df = 334, N = 2409) = 1493.684, p =.000; RMSEA = .038 (.036 - .040); CFI = .914; and SRMR= .048. The results of SEM suggested that community social capital and perceived stress significantly influenced depression. Stress was positively related to depression (p<.001) and community social capital was negatively associated with depression (p < .001). In the subsequent analysis, the log-likelihood ratio test was significant (D =35.24, p <.001), which supported that interaction model was fit to the data well. The interaction effect of the stress and community social capital was found significant (p < .01). The group with a high level of social capital presented a relatively stable slope in the prediction of stress on depression, suggesting their resilience, while the group with a low level of community social capital demonstrated a steep slope, indicating their heighten vulnerability to depression when faced with stress.

 

Conclusions and Implications

The findings support the hypothesis of stress buffering model and identify the protective effects of community social capital on depression of older adults. Older adults with lower community social capital are particularly vulnerable to depression. The results highlight that social workers and policy makers should pay attention to find ways to enhance community resources to improve older adults’ mental health.