Perceived neighborhood social disorder as a predictor of depressive symptoms among unmarried older women and the stress-buffering effect of friends support

ABSTRACT

The current study examined whether perceived neighborhood social disorder predicted depressive symptoms among unmarried older women (N = 823) drawn from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study. This study also tested the stress-buffering effect of friends support. A negative binomial regression model showed that higher perceived neighborhood social disorder was associated with higher depressive symptoms. The number of close friends was a significant factor, but no stress-buffering effect of friends support was identified. This study highlights the adverse effect of negative perceptions of the neighborhood social environment on unmarried older women’s depressive symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceived neighborhood social disorder
• depressive symptoms
• unmarried older women
• friends support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.