Objective: To conduct a three-year longitudinal study targeting community-dwelling elderly adults in order to examine the relationship between changes in social network status and depression.
Method: An initial self-report questionnaire was administered in 2008 to 2,384 elderly people between the ages of 65 and 80, living in City A of the Greater Tokyo Area. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2011, targeting the 1,858 respondents from the previous survey. The resulting 1,364 respondents (678 men, 686 women; effective response rate=73.4%) were included in the final analysis. We used regression analysis to investigate the relationship between depression and social networks. Social network status was determined by three factors: “whether or not they participate in community activities,” “frequency of social exchanges with friends,” and “the degree of interaction with neighbors.” In addition, we examined whether changes in social networks over three years influenced depression tendency.
Results: The following factors were related to a greater likelihood of depression among elderly people: “ceased participation in community activities,” “ceased social exchanges with friends,” “continuing to have few social exchanges with friends,” and “continuing to have a low degree of interaction with neighbors.”
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that several social network factors are related to depression tendency among community-dwelling elderly people. These findings suggest that an effective way of preventing depression may be to intervene in cases where elderly people have ceased participating in community activities and have reduced social interactions with friends, providing support that encourages interactions with neighbors.
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