Individual-level community-based social capital and depressive symptoms among older adults in urban China: the moderating effects of socioeconomic status

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to examine the moderating role of socioeconomic status in the association between community-based social capital—based on individual-level cognitive and structural social capital—and depressive symptoms among older adults in urban China.

Methods

Data were collected in 2020 through a community survey of 800 respondents aged 60 years and older living in Shijiazhuang and Tianjin. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Multiple-group analyses were conducted to analyze the data.

Results

Measurement models of cognitive social capital and structural social capital were established. Measurement invariance was established across different socioeconomic groups. Additionally, socioeconomic status significantly moderated the association between social capital and depressive symptoms. The association between cognitive social capital and depressive symptoms was statistically significant among respondents with relatively low incomes and high levels of education, whereas the association between structural social capital and depressive symptoms was significant only among those with relatively high incomes.

Conclusion

Future social capital policies and interventions should adopt different strategies to provide services to older adults from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, educational programs should promote the effects of cognitive social capital on depressive symptoms later in life.

Keywords:

• Cognitive social capital
• structural social capital
• depressive symptoms
• socioeconomic status
• moderation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval has been obtained from the Ethics Committee of the University of Hong Kong (Reference No. EA200113). The data in this study were anonymized before use.

Authors’ contributions

Jingyue Zhang prepared the draft of the manuscript, conducted the statistical analysis, and revised the paper. Yuqi Yan wrote and revised the manuscript. Nan Lu contributed to the study planning, data collection, statistical analysis, and paper writing and revision.

Data availability statement

The data that support the study’s findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Jilin Social Science Foundation of China ‘Research on the Constructing of Age-friendly Community Social Capital in Jilin Province’ (2022B102). This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities ‘Chinese Modernization Path and New Form of Human Civilization’ (2022CXTD16).