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Social capital, perceived neighborhood environment, and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural China: the role of self-rated health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2021

Nan Lu Open the ORCID record for Nan Lu [Opens in a new window] ,
Bei Wu ,
Yaolin Pei  and
Changmin Peng Open the ORCID record for Changmin Peng [Opens in a new window]
Nan Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work and Social Policy, School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Bei Wu*
Affiliation:
Rory Meyers College of Nursing and NYU Aging Incubator, New York University, New York, USA
Yaolin Pei
Affiliation:
Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, New York, USA
Changmin Peng
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Professor Bei Wu, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, 433 First Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. Tel: 1 (212) 992-5951. Email: bei.wu@nyu.edu.
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Abstract

Objectives:

This study examined the relationships between social capital, perceived neighborhood environment, and depressive symptoms among older adults living in rural China, and the moderating effect of self-rated health (SRH) in these relationships.

Participants:

A quota sampling method was applied to recruit 447 participants aged 60 years and older in rural communities in Jilin province, China in 2019.

Measurements:

Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to build latent constructs of social capital and test the proposed model. Multiple group analysis was used to test the moderation effects.

Results:

Cognitive social capital and structural social capital were both associated with depressive symptoms controlling for participants’ demographics, socioeconomic status, and health status. After adding perceived environment variables in the model, the relationship between cognitive social capital and depressive symptoms became nonsignificant, while structural social capital remained became a significant factor (β = −.168, p < .01). Satisfaction with health care was significantly associated with depressive symptoms among those with poor SRH (β = −.272, p < .01), whereas satisfaction with security and transportation were strongly associated with depressive symptoms among those with good SRH (security: β = −.148, p < .01; transportation: β = −.174, p < .01).

Conclusions:

Study findings highlighted the importance of social capital and neighborhood environment as potential protective factors of depressive symptoms in later life. Policy and intervention implications were also discussed.

Keywords

social capitalperceived neighborhood environmentdepressive symptomsself-rated health
Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 34 , Special Issue 8: Issue Theme: Geriatric Mental Health among Chinese Older Adults , August 2022 , pp. 691 - 701
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2021

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