• PDF / 866,665 Bytes
• 13 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
• 24 Downloads / 229 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT

---

ORIGINAL PAPER

Age and gender differences in the reciprocal relationship between social connectedness and mental health Kim M. Kiely1,2,3   · Georgina Sutherland4 · Peter Butterworth5,6 · Nicola J. Reavley4 Received: 25 March 2020 / Accepted: 23 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract Purpose  To examine (i) reciprocal longitudinal associations between social connectedness and mental health, and (ii) how these associations vary by age and gender. Methods  Three waves of nationally representative data were drawn from the HILDA survey (n = 11,523; 46% men). The five-item Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) assessed symptoms of depression and anxiety. The Australian Community Participation Questionnaire provided measures of informal social connectedness, civic engagement and political participation. Multivariable adjusted cross-lagged panel regression models with random intercepts estimated bidirectional within-person associations between mental health and each of the three types of social connectedness. Multi-group analyses were used to quantify differences between men and women, and between three broad age groups (ages: 15–30; 31–50; 51+). Results  Reliable cross-lagged associations between prior informal social connections and future mental health were only evident among adults aged 50 years and older (B = 0.101, 95% CI 0.04, 0.16). Overall, there was no significant association between prior civic engagement and improvements in mental health (p = 0.213) though there was weak evidence of an association for men (B = 0.051, 95% CI 0.01, 0.09). Similarly, there was no significant association in the overall sample between political participation and improvements for mental health (p = 0.337), though there was weak evidence that political participation was associated with a decline in mental health for women (B = − 0.045, CI − 0.09, 0.00) and those aged 31–50 (B = − 0.057, CI − 0.10, − 0.01). Conversely, prior mental health was associated with future informal social connectedness, civic engagement, and political participation. Conclusion  Interventions promoting social connectedness to improve community mental health need to account for age- and gender-specific patterns, and recognise that poor mental health is a barrier to social participation. Keywords  Mental health · Civic engagement · Social connectedness · Political participation · Random-intercept cross lagged panel regression

Introduction

Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (https​://doi.org/10.1007/s0012​7-020-01960​-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Kim M. Kiely [email protected] 1

There is a substantial body of evidence linking social connectedness with mental health [1–4]. Social connectedness refers to the degree of communal engagement, integration, and belongingness tying groups of individuals together. 4



Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia