Social participation and depression in middle-aged and senior citizens in China

Abstract

We examined the effects of social activities on depression in middleaged and senior men and women in China. We classified social activities into informal and formal categories; the former require more intimate and intensive participation, while the latter require less. Participants were 8,610 respondents aged 45 years and above, whose data were extracted from the 8-year Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2018) and analyzed using a fixed-effects regression model. The results provide evidence that informal social activities had a negative relationship with depression in both men and women, with the effect being stronger in men than in women. We have provided a framework within which relationships between these types of social activities and depression in men and women can be understood. The results bolster the activity theory of aging, which has implications for mental health practitioners.

Multidimensional Intergenerational Relationship and Social Participation among Late-Life Migrants in China: The Role of Depressive Symptom

“…However, further studies are needed to verify this relationship. Consistent with previous fndings [7,[54][55][56], depressive symptoms are negatively related to social participation. Tis indicates that the degree of social participation of late-life migrants is related to their psychological functioning.…”

“…A longitudinal study found that older adults with more depressive symptoms engaged in less social participation [53]. Tus, depressive symptom is negatively associated with social participation among older Chinese adults [7,[54][55][56]. Although depressive symptom has a reciprocal relationship with social participation, longitudinal studies have suggested that the efect of depressive symptom on social participation in older adults is stronger than the opposite efect [57,58].…”