Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:36:07.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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: [email protected].
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, K. B., Leibbrandt, S. and Moon, H. (2011). A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life. Ageing and Society, 31, 683–712. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X10001091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agampodi, T. C., Agampodi, S. B., Glozier, N. and Siribaddana, S. (2015). Measurement of social capital in relation to health in low and middle income countries: a systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 128, 95–104. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.01.005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barley, E. A., Murray, J., Walters, P. and Tylee, A. (2011). Managing depression in primary care: a meta-synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research from the UK to identify barriers and facilitators. BMC Family Practice, 12, 47. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-12-47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassett, E. and Moore, S. (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, 86, 96–102. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.03.005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burnette, D., Ye, X., Cheng, Z. and Ruan, H. (2021). Living alone, social cohesion, and quality of life among older adults in rural and urban China: a conditional process analysis. International Psychogeriatrics, 33, 469–479. doi: 10.1017/S1041610220001210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, W., Li, L., Zhou, X. and Zhou, C. (2015). Social capital and depression: evidence from urban elderly in China. Aging & Mental Health, 19, 418–429. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2014.948805.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chan, C. K., Pettigrew, C., Wang, M. C., Wang, J., Albert, M. S. and Rosenberg, P. B. (2019). Depressive symptoms in relation to clinical symptom onset of mild cognitive impairment. International Psychogeriatrics, 31, 561–569. doi: 10.1017/S1041610218001138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, F. F., Sousa, K. H. and West, S. G. (2005). Teacher’s corner: testing measurement invariance of second-order factor models. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 12, 471–492. doi: 10.1207/s15328007sem1203_7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y. Y., Wong, G. H., Lum, T. Y., Lou, V. W. Q., Ho, A. H., Luo, H. and Tong, T. L. (2016). Neighborhood support network, perceived proximity to community facilities and depressive symptoms among low socioeconomic status Chinese elders. Aging & Mental Health, 20, 423–431. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2015.1018867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chi, I. and Boey, K. W. (1993). Hong Kong validation of measuring instruments of mental health status of the elderly. Clinical Gerontologist, 13, 35–51. doi: 10.1300/J018v13n04_04.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120. doi: 10.1086/228943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramm, J. M., van Dijk, H. M. and Nieboer, A. P. (2013). The importance of neighborhood social cohesion and social capital for the well being of older adults in the community. The Gerontologist, 53, 142–152. doi: 10.1093/geront/gns052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Silva, M. J., Huttly, S. R., Harpham, T. and Kenward, M. G. (2007). Social capital and mental health: a comparative analysis of four low income countries. Social Science & Medicine, 64, 5–20. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.08.044.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehsan, A., Klaas, H. S., Bastianen, A. and Spini, D. (2019). Social capital and health: a systematic review of systematic reviews. SSM-Population Health, 8, 100425. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerst, K., Miranda, P. Y., Eschbach, K., Sheffield, K. M., Peek, M. K. and Markides, K. S. (2011). Protective neighborhoods: neighborhood proportion of Mexican Americans and depressive symptoms in very old Mexican Americans. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 59, 353–358. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03244.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, K. L., Quinn, S. C., Goodman, R. M., Butler, J. and Wallace, J. M. (2013). A meta-analysis of social capital and health: A case for needed research. Journal of Health Psychology, 18, 1385–1399. doi: 10.1177/1359105311435983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gomez, L. F., Soto-Salazar, C., Guerrero, J., Garcia, M. and Parra, D. (2019). Neighborhood environment, self-rated health and quality of life in Latin America. Health Promotion International, 35, 196–204. doi: 10.1093/heapro/day117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grootaert, C., Narayan, D., Jones, V. N. and Woolcock, M. (2004). Integrated questionnaire for the measurement of social capital. World Bank working paper No. 18 Washington, DC: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y., Wang, Y., Wang, H., Liu, Z., Yu, X., Yan, J., Yu, Y., Kou, C., Xu, X., Lu, J., Wang, Z., He, S., Xu, Y., He, Y., Li, T., Guo, W., Tian, H., Xu, G., Xu, X., Ma, Y., Wang, L., Wang, L., Yan, Y., Wang, B., Xiao, S., Zhou, L., Li, L., Tan, L., Zhang, T., Ma, C., Li, Q., Ding, H., Geng, H., Jia, F., Shi, J., Wang, S., Zhang, N., Du, X., Du, X. and Wu, Y. (2019). Prevalence of mental disorders in China: a cross-sectional epidemiological study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6, 211–224. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30511-X.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Idler, E. L. and Benyamini, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 21–37. doi: 10.2307/2955359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Julien, D., Richard, L., Gauvin, L. and Kestens, Y. (2012). Neighborhood characteristics and depressive mood among older adults: an integrative review. International Psychogeriatrics, 24, 1207–1225. doi: 10.1017/s1041610211002894.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jylhä, M. (2009). What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 307–316. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.013.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, D. (2008). Blues from the neighborhood? Neighborhood characteristics and depression. Epidemiologic Reviews, 30, 101–117. doi: 10.1093/epirev/mxn009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Koutsogeorgou, E., Nyqvist, F., Nygard, M., Cerniauskaite, M., Quintas, R., Raggi, A. and Leonardi, M. (2015). Social capital and self-rated health among older adults: a comparative analysis of Finland, Poland and Spain. Ageing & Society, 35, 653–667. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X13001025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawton, M. P. and Nahemow, L. (1973). Ecology and the aging process. In: Eisdorfer, C. and Lawton, M. P. (Eds.), The Psychology of Adult Development and Aging (pp. 464–488). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.Google Scholar
Litwin, H. (2011). The association between social network relationships and depressive symptoms among older Americans: what matters most? International Psychogeriatrics, 23, 930–940. doi: 10.1017/S1041610211000251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, J., Luo, Y., Haller, W., Vander Mey, B. and Granberg, E. (2018). Neighborhood environments and self-rated health in Mainland China, Japan and South Korea. PLoS ONE, 13, e0204910. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204910.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lu, N. and Peng, C. (2019). Community-based structural social capital and depressive symptoms of older urban Chinese adults: the mediating role of cognitive social capital. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 82, 74–80. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2019.01.014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lu, N. and Zhang, J. (2019). Social capital and self-rated health among older adults living in urban China: a mediation model. Sustainability, 11, 5566. doi: 10.3390/su11205566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangen, D. J., Bengtson, V. L. and Landry, P. H. Jr. (Eds.) (1988). Measurement of Intergenerational Relations. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K. and Muthén, B. (2012). Mplus User’s Guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of China (2020). China Statistical Yearbook–2020. Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Nyqvist, F., Forsman, A. K., Giuntoli, G. and Cattan, M. (2012). Social capital as a resource for mental well-being in older people: a systematic review. Aging & Mental Health, 17, 394–410. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2012.742490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orpana, H., Chawla, M., Gallagher, E. and Escaravage, E. (2016). Developing indicators for evaluation of age-friendly communities in Canada: Process and results. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, 36, 214–223. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.36.10.02.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pfeiffer, E. (1975). A Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire for the assessment of organic brain deficit in elderly patients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 23, 433–441. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1975.tb00927.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R. and Nanetti, R. (1993). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Qin, X., Wang, S. and Hsieh, C. (2016). The prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms among adults in China: estimation based on a National Household Survey. China Economic Review, 51, 271–282. doi: 10.1016/j.chieco.2016.04.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabe-Hesketh, S. and Skrondal, A. (2012). Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata.College Station, TX: STATA Press.Google Scholar
Rankin, S. H. and Galbraith, M. E. (1993). Reliability and validity data for a Chinese translation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression. Psychological Reports, 73, 1291–1298. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1993.73.3f.1291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwarzbach, M., Luppa, M., Forstmeier, S., Konig, H. and Riedelheller, S. G. (2014). Social relations and depression in late life – a systematic review. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 29, 1–21. doi: 10.1002/gps.3971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snijders, T. A. B. (2001). Sampling. In: Leyland, A. and Goldstein, H. (Eds.), Multilevel Modelling of Health Statistics (pp. 159–174) Chichester, England: Wiley.Google Scholar
Steels, S. (2015). Key characteristics of age-friendly cities and communities: a review. Cities, 47, 45–52. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2015.02.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., Chen, Y. C., Shen, H. W. and Morrow-Howell, N. (2018). Neighborhood and depressive symptoms: a comparison of rural and urban Chinese older adults. The Gerontologist, 58, 68–78. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnx063.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, B., Cohen, M. A., Cong, Z., Kim, K. and Peng, C. (2021). Improving care for older adults in China: development of long-term care policy and system. Research On Aging, 43, 123–126. doi: 10.1177/0164027521990829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, S., Wang, R., Zhao, Y., Ma, X., Wu, M., Yan, X. and He, J. (2013). The relationship between self-rated health and objective health status: a population-based study. BMC Public Health, 13, 320. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xie, Y., Ma, M., Wu, W., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y. and Tan, X. (2021). Factors associated with depressive symptoms among the elderly in China: structural equation model. International Psychogeriatrics, 33, 157–167. doi: 10.1017/S1041610220001398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yu, R., Wong, M. and Woo, J. (2019). Perceptions of neighborhood environment, sense of community, and self-rated health: An age-friendly city project in Hong Kong. Journal of Urban Health, 96, 276–288. doi: 10.1007/s11524-018-00331-3 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, J. Y. and Lu, N. (2019). Community-based cognitive social capital and depressive symptoms among older adults in urban China: The moderating role of family social capital. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development. doi: 10.1177/0091415019848202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar