Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 86, June 2013, Pages 96-102
Social Science & Medicine

Social capital and depressive symptoms: The association of psychosocial and network dimensions of social capital with depressive symptoms in Montreal, Canada

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.03.005Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Network and psychosocial components of social capital should both be considered when examining depressive symptoms.

  • Social capital sources within the neighbourhood may help decrease the likelihood of depressive symptoms.

  • Generalized trust was associated with depressive symptoms; network social capital was not.

Abstract

Depression is the most common mental illness worldwide, and although aspects of the social environment, including social capital, have been linked to depression, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we assessed whether (1) network and psychosocial dimensions of individual social capital were each associated with depressive symptoms, and (2) the association varied according to the location of the capital, i.e., outside or inside a person's neighbourhood. The current study used data from the Montreal Neighbourhood Networks and Healthy Ageing Study (MoNNET-HA). MoNNET-HA consisted of a representative sample of 2707 adults from 300 census tracts in the Montreal Metropolitan Area. The CESD-10 instrument was used to assess the presence of depressive symptoms with a cut off of more than three symptoms used to indicate depressive symptomatology. Name and position generator instruments were used to assess the existence of a core tie, core tie diversity, and network social capital both inside and outside the neighbourhood. Questions on generalized trust, trust in neighbours, and neighbourhood cohesion were used to assess psychosocial dimensions of social capital inside and outside the neighbourhood. Community and general group participation were also included as structural dimensions of social capital. Analyses adjusted for a range of socio-demographic and economic characteristics. Results from multilevel logistic regressions indicated that the core tie diversity as well as the psychosocial dimensions of generalized trust, trust in neighbours, and perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion reduced the likelihood of depressive symptoms in urban-dwelling adults. Network and psychosocial components of social capital within neighbourhood contexts should be considered when examining social capital and depressive symptoms.

Introduction

Major depressive disorder is the most common mental illness worldwide, affecting 3.2% of the world's population, and includes symptoms such as low mood and loss of interest in daily activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Moussavi et al., 2007). It has been projected that by 2020, depression will rank as the second leading cause of disease burden worldwide (Moussavi et al., 2007). Ever since the work of Emile Durkheim, researchers have acknowledged and sought to examine the influence of the social environment and social relationships on mental health and depression. Social capital is a relatively more recent construct in the social epidemiological research field, and generally refers to the resources which individuals and, potentially, groups have access to through their social connections (Bourdieu, 1986). Social capital is often considered to be a feature of one's social environment and to have psychosocial, structural, and network components. Despite recent advances in research on social capital and mental health, less is known about the contribution of network versus psychosocial mechanisms in the link between social capital and depression. To develop a greater understanding of those links, more research needs to investigate the relative associations between psychosocial and network components of social capital and depression.

A person may be able to draw on their social capital within various contexts, including workplace, school, and neighbourhood. Assessing the contextual sources of a person's social capital, specifically, in this case, inside and outside one's neighbourhood, may be important for research and health promotion purposes (Moore et al., 2011). For example, outside-neighbourhood social capital may be more beneficial than inside-neighbourhood social capital for a person's self-rated health (Moore et al., 2011). Outside ties may indicate greater heterogeneity in social connections and access to a greater diversity of resources (Moore et al., 2011). Yet, few studies have differentiated between general- and neighbourhood-specific social capital when examining social capital and depression. Results from such findings might better guide the content and types of treatment and prevention programs targeting depression.

Section snippets

Components of social capital

Within public health research, the concept of social capital is often operationalized using measures of trust, community participation, and individual- and community-level networks (Whitley & McKenzie, 2005). Differences in the operationalization of social capital have led to the rise of two main approaches – psychosocial and network – to understand the link between social capital and health. The psychosocial approach include constructs that are both social and psychological in nature and

Social capital and depression

Research on individual social capital and depression has tended to rely on psychosocial measures of social capital, such as trust, and structural indicators of community participation. Several such studies have shown generalized trust at the individual level to be inversely related to depressive symptoms (Aslund et al., 2010; De Silva et al., 2005; Fujiwara & Kawachi, 2008; Sund et al., 2007; Veenstra, 2005; Webber et al., 2010). Particularized trust, e.g., trust in neighbours, has been shown

Purpose

The current study aims to better understand the association of depressive symptoms with social capital using network, psychosocial, and participation measures of social capital. Adjusting for each type of measure in our models will enable the study to identify more clearly which mechanism may be more strongly associated with depressive symptoms. In addition, this study assesses whether the association between social capital and depressive symptoms differs depending on a person's general or

Study design

We used data from the 2008 Montreal Neighbourhood Networks and Healthy Ageing Study (MoNNET-HA). Montreal Metropolitan Area (MMA) census tracts (N = 862) were stratified into tertiles of high, medium, and low SES areas using median household income data from the 2001 Canada Census. Of the 862 census tracts in the MMA, one hundred were selected from each tertile for a total of 300 census tracts. To collect data from a range of age groups, respondents were stratified into three age categories:

Sample

After excluding observations missing data on study variables, this study had a final sample size of 2624 adults. Of the 2624 participants, 17.3% were classified as having depressive symptoms. Approximately 64.6% of respondents were female, 54.5% of respondents were married, 38.2% had a university degree, 54.8% were employed, 78.1% lived in primarily French speaking households, and 81.5% were born in Canada. More information regarding the socio-demographic variables can be seen in Table 1.

Base model: socio-demographic and -economic factors

Table 2

Discussion

The current study examined whether social capital was associated with depressive symptoms in a sample of urban-dwelling Canadian adults. Results indicated that both psychosocial and network measures of social capital were associated with depressive symptoms, and the inclusion of both provides a more comprehensive picture of how social capital is associated with depression.

Those with high levels of trust in other people, those who trust their neighbours, and those who perceive their

Limitations

The current study has some unavoidable limitations. Due to the cross-sectional design, cause-effect relationships cannot be established. For example, it is unknown whether having low social capital results in depression, or whether having depression causes individuals to become disconnected within their networks and decrease their use of resources thus resulting in lower social capital. Previous research has shown complex reciprocal effects when it comes to the relationship between depression

Conclusions

Cross-sectional associations between social capital and depressive symptoms are generally well established. Yet, there is a need to understand better the specific mechanisms by which social capital is associated with depressive symptoms. Recognizing that the association between social capital and depression may differ according to the specific dimension of social capital assessed is a critical step in identifying the specific mechanisms by which social capital is associated with health, and in

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by an operating grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 84584). At the time of the research and analysis, SM held a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Ageing.

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