IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v259y2020ics0277953620303592.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does community-level social capital mitigate the impact of widowhood & living alone on depressive symptoms?: A prospective, multi-level study

Author

Listed:
  • Nakagomi, Atsushi
  • Shiba, Koichiro
  • Hanazato, Masamichi
  • Kondo, Katsunori
  • Kawachi, Ichiro

Abstract

Widowhood and living alone are linked to increased risk of depression. We examined prospectively whether community-level social capital can mitigate the adverse impact of widowhood and living alone on depressive symptoms. We used data of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study of functionally independent adults aged 65 years or older. Three waves of surveys were collected in 2010, 2013 and 2016. We conducted gender-stratified multilevel linear regression to examine the moderating effects of community-level social capital on depressive symptoms (as assessed by the 15-point Geriatric Depression Scale) associated with widowhood and living alone. Widowhood in the past 12 months in combination with living alone was associated with a marked worsening in depressive symptoms among men (beta coefficient = 1.67; 95% confidence interval: 1.38, 1.95). Community-level civic participation, but not social cohesion or reciprocity, was associated with lower depressive symptoms in men and women. In addition, community-level civic participation moderated the association between depressive symptoms and recent widowhood/living alone among men (coefficient per 1 standard deviation = −0.30; 95% confidence interval: −0.59, −0.02). We found no significant effect modification of community-level social capital on depressive symptoms associated with widowhood and living alone among women. Communities with greater civic participation appear to mitigate the onset of depressive symptoms among recently widowed men living alone. Promotion of community activities might be an effective community-level intervention to promote mental health in this vulnerable group.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakagomi, Atsushi & Shiba, Koichiro & Hanazato, Masamichi & Kondo, Katsunori & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2020. "Does community-level social capital mitigate the impact of widowhood & living alone on depressive symptoms?: A prospective, multi-level study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:259:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620303592
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620303592
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113140?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello & Stefanie Spahni & François Höpflinger & Deborah Carr, 2016. "Cohort and Gender Differences in Psychosocial Adjustment to Later-Life Widowhood," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(4), pages 765-774.
    2. Benjamin Cornwell, 2011. "Independence Through Social Networks: Bridging Potential Among Older Women and Men," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(6), pages 782-794.
    3. Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R. & Bonanno, George A., 2012. "Beyond normality in the study of bereavement: Heterogeneity in depression outcomes following loss in older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 1987-1994.
    4. Takagi, Daisuke & Kondo, Katsunori & Kondo, Naoki & Cable, Noriko & Ikeda, Ken’ichi & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2013. "Social disorganization/social fragmentation and risk of depression among older people in Japan: Multilevel investigation of indices of social distance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 81-89.
    5. Fujiwara, Takeo & Takamoto, Iseki & Amemiya, Airi & Hanazato, Masamichi & Suzuki, Norimichi & Nagamine, Yuiko & Sasaki, Yuri & Tani, Yukako & Yazawa, Aki & Inoue, Yosuke & Shirai, Kokoro & Shobugawa, , 2017. "Is a hilly neighborhood environment associated with diabetes mellitus among older people? Results from the JAGES 2010 study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 45-51.
    6. Bassett, Emma & Moore, Spencer, 2013. "Social capital and depressive symptoms: The association of psychosocial and network dimensions of social capital with depressive symptoms in Montreal, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 96-102.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefania Ilinca & Ricardo Rodrigues & Stefan Fors & Eszter Zólyomi & Janet Jull & Johan Rehnberg & Afshin Vafaei & Susan Phillips, 2022. "Gender differences in access to community-based care: a longitudinal analysis of widowhood and living arrangements," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1339-1350, December.
    2. Yoon, Heesoo & Park, Gum-Ryeong & Kim, Jinho, 2022. "Psychosocial trajectories before and after spousal loss: Does gender matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    3. Laurence, James & Kim, Harris Hyun-soo, 2021. "Individual and community social capital, mobility restrictions, and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multilevel analysis of a representative US survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    4. Baek, Jiwon & Kim, Go-Un & Song, Kijun & Kim, Heejung, 2023. "Decreasing patterns of depression in living alone across middle-aged and older men and women using a longitudinal mixed-effects model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoon, Heesoo & Park, Gum-Ryeong & Kim, Jinho, 2022. "Psychosocial trajectories before and after spousal loss: Does gender matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    2. Paulina Wosko & Johanna Pfabigan & Birgit Trukeschitz & Elisabeth Reitinger & Barbara Pichler & Sabine Pleschberger & Kate de Medeiros, 2024. "Nonkin Carers’ Roles and Contributions to the Support of Older People Living Alone: An Analysis of Qualitative Data," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 79(5), pages 670-682.
    3. Nakagomi, Atsushi & Tsuji, Taishi & Saito, Masashige & Ide, Kazushige & Kondo, Katsunori & Shiba, Koichiro, 2023. "Social isolation and subsequent health and well-being in older adults: A longitudinal outcome-wide analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    4. Young Bum Kim & Seung Hee Lee, 2022. "Gender Differences in Correlates of Loneliness among Community-Dwelling Older Koreans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-11, June.
    5. Yun-Hsuan Wu & Kellee White & Nancy L Fleischer & Bo Cai & Shing-Chia Chen & Spencer Moore, 2018. "Network-based and cohesion-based social capital and variations in depressive symptoms among Taiwanese adults," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 64(8), pages 726-736, December.
    6. Etilé, Fabrice & Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2021. "Measuring resilience to major life events," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 598-619.
    7. Adjaye-Gbewonyo, Kafui & Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V. & Avendano, Mauricio, 2018. "High social trust associated with increased depressive symptoms in a longitudinal South African sample," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 127-135.
    8. Murayama, Hiroshi & Nofuji, Yu & Matsuo, Eri & Nishi, Mariko & Taniguchi, Yu & Fujiwara, Yoshinori & Shinkai, Shoji, 2015. "Are neighborhood bonding and bridging social capital protective against depressive mood in old age? A multilevel analysis in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 171-179.
    9. Fujiwara, Takeo & Takamoto, Iseki & Amemiya, Airi & Hanazato, Masamichi & Suzuki, Norimichi & Nagamine, Yuiko & Sasaki, Yuri & Tani, Yukako & Yazawa, Aki & Inoue, Yosuke & Shirai, Kokoro & Shobugawa, , 2017. "Is a hilly neighborhood environment associated with diabetes mellitus among older people? Results from the JAGES 2010 study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 45-51.
    10. Carl B. Becker & Yozo Taniyama & Noriko Sasaki & Megumi Kondo-Arita & Shinya Yamada & Kayoko Yamamoto, 2022. "Mourners’ Dissatisfaction with Funerals May Influence Their Subsequent Medical/Welfare Expenses—A Nationwide Survey in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, January.
    11. Fabrice Etilé & Paul Frijters & David W. Johson & Michael A. Shields, 2017. "Modelling Heterogeneity in the Resilience to Major Socioeconomic Life Events," Working Papers halshs-01485989, HAL.
    12. Cari L. Gulbrandsen & Christine Walsh, 2015. "Aging and Resilience: Older Women’s Responses to Change and Adversity," Societies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-18, November.
    13. Atalay, Kadir & Staneva, Anita, 2020. "The effect of bereavement on cognitive functioning among elderly people: Evidence from Australia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    14. Markus H. Schafer & Jonathan Koltai, 2015. "Does Embeddedness Protect? Personal Network Density and Vulnerability to Mistreatment Among Older American Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(4), pages 597-606.
    15. Torrejón, María-José & Martin-Matthews, Anne, 2022. "A qualitative approach to bridging and bonding social capital: Experiences of a cohort of Chilean older people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    16. Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2021. "Too unwell to trust? The effect of mental health on social trust in Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    17. Li, Ting & Zhang, Yanlong, 2015. "Social network types and the health of older adults: Exploring reciprocal associations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 59-68.
    18. O'Brien, Kimberly E. & Minjock, Robert M. & Colarelli, Stephen M. & Yang, Chulguen, 2018. "Kinship ties and employee theft perceptions in family-owned businesses," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 421-430.
    19. Le, Duc Dung & Ibuka, Yoko, 2023. "Understanding the effects of informal caregiving on health and well-being: Heterogeneity and mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    20. Baek, Jiwon & Kim, Go-Un & Song, Kijun & Kim, Heejung, 2023. "Decreasing patterns of depression in living alone across middle-aged and older men and women using a longitudinal mixed-effects model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:259:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620303592. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.