Understanding the role of social capital for mental wellbeing among older adults (original) (raw)
Related papers
2011
Aims: To determine the associations between the cognitive aspects of social capital and mental health status in older adults. Methods: Data on older people (65 years of age or older, n=1,102) were retrieved from a general population mental health survey conducted in Finland in 2008. The response rate was 61%. The associations between self-reported depression (measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form, CIDI-SF) or psychological distress (measured by the General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-12) and perceived social support, sense of belonging, and trust were tested by logistic regression analyses. Results: For the cognitive social capital indicators, difficult access to help from neighbours showed a significant association with depression. Furthermore, not having people to count on, experiencing a lack of concern from other people, and feeling mistrust towards other people were all significantly associated with psychological distress. Conclusions: Links between mental health and cognitive social capital indicate that social support and trust may be important factors to consider when developing interventions to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders among older adults.
Aging & Mental Health, 2019
Objectives: The current study aims to add to the limited empirical research of possible benefits of personal social capital for the well-being of elderly. A validated personal social capital scale, measuring both bonding and bridging social capital in a general population, was adjusted to fit the characteristics of the social environment of elderly, to explore the association between social capital and well-being of elderly, as well as the mediating role of loneliness. Method: A sample of 328 Dutch adults, varying in age from 65 to 90 years (Mean ¼ 72.07; SD ¼ 4.90) filled out an online questionnaire including the adapted personal social capital scale for elderly (PSCSE), as well as validated scales measuring social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing and loneliness. Relevant other (demographic) variables were included for testing construct and criterion validity. Results: CFA analysis revealed the subdimensions bonding and bridging social capital with reliability scores of respectively a ¼ .88 and a ¼ .87, and a ¼ .89 for the total scale. Regression analyses confirmed construct and criterion validity. Subsequently, significant positive associations between bonding social capital and respectively social, emotional and psychological well-being were found. These associations were mediated by loneliness. Bridging social capital was only found to be significantly associated with social well-being, not mediated by loneliness. Conclusion: Our findings have enhanced our understanding of the association between social capital and mental well-being of elderly and indicate that bonding personal social capital in particular may be considered an ingredient for positive aging.
Structural and cognitive social capital and depression among older adults in two Nordic regions
2012
"Objective: To study the association between structural and cognitive aspects of social capital and depression among older adults in two Nordic regions. Method: Data were retrieved from a postal survey targeting older adults aged 65, 70, 75 and 80 years (N=6 838, response rate=64%) residing in the Västerbotten region (Sweden), and the Österbotten region (Finland) in 2010. The associations between structural (measured by frequency of social contact with friends and neighbours) and cognitive (measured by experienced trust in friends and neighbours) aspects of social capital and depression (measured by Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS-4) were tested by logistic regression analyses. Results: Both low structural and cognitive social capital as defined in the study showed statistically significant associations with depression in older adults. Only experienced trust in neighbours failed to show significant association with depression. In addition, being single and being 80 years of age indicated a higher risk of depression as defined by GDS-4. Conclusion: The findings underline the connection between adequate levels of both structural and cognitive individual social capital and mental health in later life. They also suggest that the connection differs depending on various network types; the cognitive aspect of relationships between friends was connected to depression, while the connection was not found for neighbours. Further, the oldest age group in the sample (80 years of age) is pointed out as a population especially vulnerable for depression that should not be overlooked in mental health promotion and depression prevention."
BMC public health, 2016
Previous studies of loneliness have largely focused on establishing risk factors in specific age groups such as in later life or in young people. Researchers have paid less attention to the link between social capital and loneliness across different age groups. The aim of this study was to examine the association between social capital and experienced loneliness in different age groups in a Finnish setting. The data originates from a population-based cross-sectional survey conducted among 4618 people aged 15-80 in Western Finland in 2011. The response rate was 46.2 %. The association between social capital, measured by frequency of social contacts, participation in organisational activities, trust and sense of belonging to the neighbourhood and loneliness was tested by logistic regression analyses stratified by four age groups. Frequent loneliness (defined as experienced often or sometimes) was higher among younger people (39.5 %) compared to older people (27.3 %). Low levels of tru...
Promoting social capital to alleviate loneliness and improve health among older people in Spain.
Loneliness is especially frequent among older people in Southern Europe. Furthermore, promoting social capital to tackle loneliness and its health effects is an understudied intervention strategy. Therefore, a complex intervention was piloted in Spain in a pre-post study with a 2-year follow-up. Its aims were to explore the feasibility of the intervention and its short- and long-term effects. It was conducted in one mixed rural-urban and two urban areas of diverse socioeconomic levels from 2011 to 2012. The intervention framework was based on social capital theory applying a behaviour change model and care co-ordination. The intervention comprised: (i) a co-ordinated action aimed at building a network between primary healthcare centres and community assets in the neighbourhood and (ii) a group-based programme, which promoted social capital among lonely older people, especially social support and participation. Older people active in senior centres volunteered as gatekeepers. The main outcome domain was loneliness. Secondary outcome domains were participation, social support, self-perceived health, quality of life, depressive symptoms and use of health resources. Pre-post changes were assessed with t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and McNemar's test. Differences between the three time points were assessed with a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Social workers and nurses were successfully involved as group leaders, 10 volunteers took part and 38 participants were included. After the intervention, loneliness decreased while social participation and support significantly increased. Furthermore, the number of visits to nurses increased. Exactly 65.8% of the participants built social contacts within the group and 47.4% became engaged in new activities. Two years later, social effects were maintained and depressive symptoms had decreased. Exactly 44.7% of the participants continued to be in contact with at least one person from the group and 39.5% continued participating. The intervention contributes a novel and feasible social capital-based approach for alleviating loneliness among older adults while prompting meaningful changes in their lives.
Open Journal of Nursing, 2014
Background: Social capital has been described as a person's sense of belonging as a result of the number and type of relationships she/he has, in which trust and reciprocity are especially important. Aim: To illuminate older persons' experiences of social capital and depressive illhealth after implementation of the CCM. Methods: Data were collected from nine participants resident in two districts of Norway by means of individual in-depth interviews. A qualitative hermeneutic analysis was performed. Results: Two overall themes, desire for a guardian and a wish for independence despite being dependent, and two themes emerging from the analysis. The first theme-searching for protection was based on three sub-themes overwhelmed by the emotional pain of other people, a sense of exclusion and worries about the future, while the second themethe need for a relationship with trustworthy persons comprised two sub-themes, namely, emotional pain was not understood and powerlessness to change the situation. The result of this study highlights the need for greater understanding on the part of healthcare professionals of how older persons manage their social relationships. Healthcare professionals require more knowledge about how negative self-beliefs held by older persons suffering from emotional pain, which can lead to reduced ability to trust other people. Another consequence is that fear of being dependent on other people can result in unwillingness to admit the need for help. Conclusion: This study highlights the lack of social capital in older persons who suffer from depressive ill-health. The implementation of the CCM does not appear to improve the situation. Older persons need to be more aware of their social needs and productive interactions in order to protect themselves and obtain * Corresponding author. A. L. Holm et al. 684 support from their social network.
The value of maintaining social connections for mental health in older people
Lancet Public Health, 2020
By 2050, it is estimated that about a fifth of the general population will be aged 65 years and older. 1 Social isolation and loneliness among young (18-40 years), middle-aged (41-64), and older adults (65 years and older) is thus a serious public health concern of our time because of its strong connection with cardiovascular, autoimmune, neurocognitive, and mental health problems. 2 The scientific literature has documented the bidirectional and complex relationship between psychological issues and social disconnectedness in the past 40 years. 3 Despite extensive work done to date on this topic, previous research has had several shortcomings. Limitations include preponderance of cross-sectional data that precludes causal inferences, use of single measure or single-item assessments of loneliness, absence of testing bidirectionality, and small sample sizes. In The Lancet Public Health, Ziggi Ivan Santini and colleagues 4 build on previous work by examining the bidirectional relations between depression or anxiety severity and social disconnectedness between 2005 and 2016, and the degree to which perceived isolation mediated those relationships. The authors tested these hypotheses in a large sample of 3005 community-dwelling adults aged 57 to 85 years in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project using random-intercept cross-lagged panel modelling. 5 The analyses showed that social disconnectedness independently predicted depression and anxiety symptom severity (and vice versa). Additionally, self-perceived social isolation was found to mediate the link between social disconnectedness and depression and anxiety in both directions. For example, social disconnectedness predicted higher subsequent perceived isolation, which in turn predicted higher depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms (all p<0.0001). The random-intercept cross-lagged panel modelling approach, which adjusts for previous outcomes and between-person variation, permits the inference that these observed relations unfold within (as opposed to between) people, thus bringing us closer toward causal models. Moreover, the authors exemplified the best practices of longitudinal structural equation modelling by testing for measurement equivalence to verify that the latent constructs were assessed along the same scale at various timepoints (an often-neglected step). These findings can potentially inform public health and social policies. Brief evidence-based preventive interventions could plausibly be developed for older adults and implemented This is an Open Access article under the CC BY NC ND 4.0 license.
Differential Effects of Social Network on Health in Later Life and the Moderating Role of Depression
OBM Geriatrics
Background: Differential effects of the characteristics of social network on limitations with activities (LWA) and the quality of life (QOL) among older adults, and the moderating role of depression were studied. Methods: The data obtained from two consecutive waves of the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was examined. Results: Emotional closeness, satisfaction with the social network, and contact frequency were able to predict the QOL and not LWA. Moreover, depression was observed to moderate the effects of network characteristics on these health outcomes, in a way that the effect of emotional closeness on QOL was significant among the low-depressed individuals in comparison to its effect on the highly depressed individuals; similar outcomes were observed for the effect of contact frequency and satisfaction with the social network on LWA. In addition, greater geographic distance was able to predict lower LWA when the levels of depression were high compared to when the levels of depression were low. Conclusions: The findings of the present study highlighted the importance of recognizing the differential effects of different characteristics of social network on health outcomes, and, in addition, considered the role of depression levels in predicting these outcomes among the
Journal of aging and health, 2015
To investigate the influence of social network characteristics on subjective well-being over 6 years in a population sample of older adults. A total of 4,116 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging provided baseline data on social network characteristics and potential confounding factors, and complete follow-up data on 2 measures of subjective well-being. Social network size and network contact frequency were positively and independently associated with future life satisfaction and quality of life after controlling for confounding factors, including demographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and long-standing illness. In contrast, social network diversity was not independently related to future subjective well-being. Different aspects of people's social networks may help sustain levels of subjective well-being in older age. The role of close relationships and frequent contact in later life may be particularly important. These results highlight the need f...