Abstract
Research suggests that the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath were associated with an increase in mental health problems, but there has been little research into potential protective factors. Ecological social capital is a plausible candidate given evidence of its protective status following natural disasters. Pre-crisis area-level estimates of generalized trust and sense of belonging were computed from the 2004 to 2006 waves of the Living in Wales survey (N=43,473) for 413 neighbourhoods in Wales, using multilevel regression with post-stratification, a technique for disaggregating survey data into small area estimates. Area estimates and the planned analysis were preregistered using Open Science Framework. Data (N=180,462) from the Welsh Health Survey (2003-2015) were then used to model whether social capital was protective against depression in general and whether it moderated the increase in depression prevalence, associated with the financial crisis. Depression rates increased post-crisis (odds ratio [OR]=1.271), and trust was a protective factor against depression (OR=0.775). The hypothesized interaction, however, was not significant (OR=1.033), nor was sense of belonging (OR=0.934) or its interaction with the crisis (OR=1.024). Although ecological generalized trust appears to be a protective factor against depression, it did not buffer against the mental health impact of the financial crisis.
Highlights
Dyfyniad o'r fersiwn a gyhoeddwyd / Citation for published version (APA): Saville, C. (2021)
Pre-crisis ecological generalized trust was a protective factor against depression across the study period, but did not buffer against the rise in depression rates seen during the period
One possibility is that ecological risk factors were less important in determining vulnerability to financial distress than individual factors – a number of studies have found that individual demographic (Barr et al, 2015) and socio-economic (Thomson & Katikireddi, 2018) factors acted as moderators of risk, and potentially ecological factors are less relevant in an economic crisis than in natural disasters
Summary
Dyfyniad o'r fersiwn a gyhoeddwyd / Citation for published version (APA): Saville, C. (2021). Dyfyniad o'r fersiwn a gyhoeddwyd / Citation for published version (APA): Saville, C. Ecological social capital does not predict geographical variance in increases in depression following the 2008 financial crisis. Hawliau Cyffredinol / General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim
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