Social Support and Depressive Symptoms among Trauma-Impacted Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The present study investigates the association between social support and depressive symptomatology among older adults who have been impacted by trauma. Previous studies have not sufficiently explored this topic to date.

Method: The current study analyzed public-use data from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (N = 4,195), focusing specifically on community-dwelling older adults (> 50). They had at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

Results: This study found that higher levels of social support were significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms after controlling for life satisfaction, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and education..

Discussion and Conclusion: The recent emergence of trauma-informed research has consistently emphasized the importance of social interaction for mental health. The current study shows that social support can reduce depressive symptoms of those who have experienced trauma.

KEYWORDS:

• Social support
• depression
• trauma-impacted older adults
• trauma-informed research