Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis
The potential benefit of social participation (SP) to one's mental health has been widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, the specific type and amount of SP that is associated with improved depressive symptoms in middle- and old-aged Chinese awaits further investigation. This study aimed to underst...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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2019
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/ |
| _version_ | 1848799582087020544 |
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| author | Wang, Ruoxi Chen, Zhuo Zhou, Yongjie Shen, Lining Zhang, Zhiguo Wu, Xiang |
| author_facet | Wang, Ruoxi Chen, Zhuo Zhou, Yongjie Shen, Lining Zhang, Zhiguo Wu, Xiang |
| author_sort | Wang, Ruoxi |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The potential benefit of social participation (SP) to one's mental health has been widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, the specific type and amount of SP that is associated with improved depressive symptoms in middle- and old-aged Chinese awaits further investigation. This study aimed to understand the patterns of depression and SP by comparing urban vs rural China, and according to which, measure the associations between changes in SP and that in depressive symptoms. A total of 10,988 community residents aged 45 years and above were selected from wave 1 (2011), wave 2 (2013), and wave 4 (2015) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative survey. The fixed-effects analysis was used to explore the association between the changes in diversity, frequency, and type of SP and the changes in depressive symptoms. The results indicated that rural respondents suffered from a significantly higher risk of depression and took less SP than their urban counterparts. Transitioning from no SP to 1 or more types of SP or to a once a week or higher frequency was associated with a decline in depressive symptoms. For urban respondents, playing mah-jong or cards and joining sports or social clubs predicted a decline in depressive symptoms. For rural residents, interacting with friends regularly was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. In conclusion, more diverse and higher frequency of SP was associated with better mental health, while the social significance of SP varied across different types of SP and between rural and urban areas. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:37:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-59039 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:37:57Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
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| spelling | nottingham-590392019-09-18T01:02:27Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/ Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis Wang, Ruoxi Chen, Zhuo Zhou, Yongjie Shen, Lining Zhang, Zhiguo Wu, Xiang The potential benefit of social participation (SP) to one's mental health has been widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, the specific type and amount of SP that is associated with improved depressive symptoms in middle- and old-aged Chinese awaits further investigation. This study aimed to understand the patterns of depression and SP by comparing urban vs rural China, and according to which, measure the associations between changes in SP and that in depressive symptoms. A total of 10,988 community residents aged 45 years and above were selected from wave 1 (2011), wave 2 (2013), and wave 4 (2015) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative survey. The fixed-effects analysis was used to explore the association between the changes in diversity, frequency, and type of SP and the changes in depressive symptoms. The results indicated that rural respondents suffered from a significantly higher risk of depression and took less SP than their urban counterparts. Transitioning from no SP to 1 or more types of SP or to a once a week or higher frequency was associated with a decline in depressive symptoms. For urban respondents, playing mah-jong or cards and joining sports or social clubs predicted a decline in depressive symptoms. For rural residents, interacting with friends regularly was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. In conclusion, more diverse and higher frequency of SP was associated with better mental health, while the social significance of SP varied across different types of SP and between rural and urban areas. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019-10-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/1/combinepdf.pdf Wang, Ruoxi, Chen, Zhuo, Zhou, Yongjie, Shen, Lining, Zhang, Zhiguo and Wu, Xiang (2019) Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 238 . p. 112518. ISSN 0277-9536 Social participation; Depression; China; Fixed-effects analysis; Rural-urban disparity http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112518 doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112518 doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112518 |
| spellingShingle | Social participation; Depression; China; Fixed-effects analysis; Rural-urban disparity Wang, Ruoxi Chen, Zhuo Zhou, Yongjie Shen, Lining Zhang, Zhiguo Wu, Xiang Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title | Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title_full | Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title_fullStr | Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title_short | Melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| title_sort | melancholy or mahjong? diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged chinese: a fixed-effects analysis |
| topic | Social participation; Depression; China; Fixed-effects analysis; Rural-urban disparity |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59039/ |