Social Capital and Mental Health among Older Adults Living in Urban China in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic.
Although social capital has been found to be an important social determinant of mental health in later life, research on social capital in the context of COVID-19 and the interplay among subdimensions of social capital is lacking. The present study examined the mediating role of cognitive social capital on the relationship between structural social capital and mental health among older adults in urban China in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from the Yangpu district in Shanghai, China, in July-August 2020. A quota sampling approach was used to recruit 472 respondents aged 60 years and older from 23 communities in the Yangpu district. Mental health was measured by depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Cognitive social capital was assessed through trust and reciprocity, and structural social capital was assessed through organization memberships, and COVID-19 related volunteering and citizenship activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediation model. The results show that cognitive social capital had a full mediation effect on the association between structural social capital and mental health indicators (life satisfaction: b = 0.122, SD = 0.029, p < 0.001; depressive symptoms: b = -0.343, SD = 0.119, p < 0.01). The findings indicate that social capital can play an important role in sustaining and improving mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy and intervention implications are discussed.
['Sun|Qian|Q|', 'Lu|Nan|N|0000-0001-9006-6254']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000073640:Betacoronavirus D000086382:COVID-19 D002681:China D018352:Coronavirus Infections D003863:Depression D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007398:Interpersonal Relations D008297:Male D008603:Mental Health D008875:Middle Aged D058873:Pandemics D010549:Personal Satisfaction D011024:Pneumonia, Viral D011788:Quality of Life D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D066270:Social Capital D012944:Social Support D014505:Urban Population
older adults urban China cognitive social capital structural social capital depressive symptoms life satisfaction