Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Aging Ment Health. 2021 Oct;25(10):1811-1820. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1793296. Epub 2020 Jul 20.
Widowhood is associated with increased risks of depression in the surviving spouse. We examined whether an increase in individual-level social capital mitigates the adverse impact of widowhood on depressive symptoms.
We used data from the 2013/2016 waves of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study of functionally independent adults aged 65 years or older (men: = 20,853; women: =16,858). Fixed-effects regression was applied to examine the potential buffering effects of changes in social capital on changes in depressive symptoms following widowhood among married people living with their spouse and/or others at baseline.
Widowhood had a deleterious impact on depressive symptoms particularly among men who ended up living alone following their spouse's death. Fixed-effects models revealed that an increase in informal socializing and social participation might buffer the effects of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms among men who became widowed during the first two years of follow-up and ended up living alone.
An increase in structural social capital may mitigate the impact of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms. However, the associations vary by gender, living arrangement, and time since widowhood. Intensive efforts should be directed toward connecting the vulnerable group, widowed men living alone, to sources of social capital.
丧偶与丧偶配偶抑郁风险增加有关。本研究旨在探讨个体层面社会资本的增加是否可以减轻丧偶对抑郁症状的不利影响。
本研究使用了日本功能独立老年人 65 岁及以上人群 2013/2016 年的纵向数据（男性：n=20853；女性：n=16858）。采用固定效应回归分析，检验了在基线时与配偶或其他家庭成员共同居住的已婚人群中，丧偶后社会资本变化对抑郁症状变化的潜在缓冲作用。
丧偶对抑郁症状有不良影响，特别是在丧偶后独居的男性中。固定效应模型显示，在随访的前两年丧偶并最终独居的男性中，非正式社交和社会参与的增加可能会缓冲配偶丧亡对抑郁症状的影响。
结构性社会资本的增加可能会减轻配偶丧亡对抑郁症状的影响。然而，这种关联因性别、居住安排和丧偶时间的不同而有所差异。应该积极努力将脆弱群体，即独居的丧偶男性，与社会资本来源联系起来。
