Sun Jian, Xiao Tong, Lyu Shoujun, Zhao Rui
School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, People's Republic of China.
School of Project Management and Real Estate, Henan University of Economics and Law, Zhengzhou, Henan 450046, People's Republic of China.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2020 Mar 18;13:205-213. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S247355. eCollection 2020.
Depression has become a serious health and social issue in recent years in China. This study aims to explore the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms among the elderly in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of life satisfaction.
The data of this study were sourced from the 2016 wave of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), involving 1243 older adults aged 60 and above. A multiple linear regression model was used to explore the impact of social capital on depressive symptoms. Moreover, the add-on PROCESS macro for SPSS was employed to measure the mediating effect of life satisfaction on the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms.
The regression results suggest that CES-D score was associated with trust (coefficient = -0.1013, < 0.01). In addition, the protective role of trust was significantly stronger for older adults aged 70-79, women, the poorest 1/3, and the elderly who live in rural areas. Moreover, the mediation analysis results suggest that the effect of trust on depressive symptoms was fully mediated by life satisfaction.
This study reveals that social capital has a positive effect on depressive symptoms among the elderly, and the positive health effect shows significant age, gender, income, and location inequalities. Furthermore, this study also provides new evidence indicating that life satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms. Improving social capital could be a promising way for China to promote healthy aging in the future.
近年来，抑郁症在中国已成为一个严重的健康和社会问题。本研究旨在探讨中国老年人社会资本与抑郁症状之间的关系，特别关注生活满意度的中介作用。
本研究数据来源于2016年中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS），涉及1243名60岁及以上的老年人。采用多元线性回归模型探讨社会资本对抑郁症状的影响。此外，使用SPSS的附加PROCESS宏来测量生活满意度在社会资本与抑郁症状关系中的中介作用。
回归结果表明，CES-D得分与信任相关（系数 = -0.1013，<0.01）。此外，信任对70 - 79岁的老年人、女性、最贫困的三分之一人群以及农村地区老年人的保护作用显著更强。此外，中介分析结果表明，信任对抑郁症状的影响完全由生活满意度中介。
本研究表明，社会资本对老年人的抑郁症状有积极影响，且这种积极的健康影响在年龄、性别、收入和地区方面存在显著差异。此外，本研究还提供了新的证据，表明生活满意度完全中介了社会资本与抑郁症状之间的关系。改善社会资本可能是中国未来促进健康老龄化的一个有前景的途径。
