Relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms: Differences according to resilience and gender in the Shika study

Abstract

• This is a community-based cross-sectional study of middle-aged and elderly residents of Shika town, Ishikawa, Japan. • The social capital of middle-aged and elderly females is significantly higher than that of males. • Middle-aged and elderly females with low resilience and low social capital were associated with higher depressive symptoms. • Middle-aged and elderly with low resilience and low social capital were associated with higher suicidal thoughts in both males and females. Although the relationship between social capital (SC) and depressive symptoms has been reported in several studies, resilience and gender differences alter those relationships have not yet been elucidated. Therefore, this study cross-sectionally investigated the relationship between SC and depressive symptoms, including suicidal thoughts, based on resilience and gender differences in community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly individuals in Shika town, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. : A total of 312 participants older than forty years (149 males and 163 females) were included in the analysis. We assessed depressive symptoms, social capital, and resilience using the Japanese version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), SC scale, and the resilience scale (RS), respectively. : Two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that in the low RS group, the BDI of the low SC group was significantly higher than that of the high SC group ( p = 0.001). Furthermore, multiple logistic regression analysis showed that SC was significantly associated with high BDI in the low RS group, but not in the high RS group (odds ratio = 0.498, 95% confidence interval = 0.328, 0.755, p = 0.001). : The present study concluded that low RS and low SC were associated with high depressive symptoms, especially among females. Our findings suggest that increasing SC may be useful in preventing and improving depressive symptoms in less resilient females. Further longitudinal studies are needed to emotional that causal relationship among SC, RS, and BDI.