Relationship between state-levels of depression and social capital

Background: Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders. While individual-level variables and their relationship to depression have been researched, research on the social determinants of depression is limited. This study examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and social capital and income inequality at the state-level.

Methods: Secondary data from the 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and 2000, 2001, and 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Surveys (BRFSS) provided data on state-levels of depressive symptoms. Social determinant variables included social capital, income inequality, and poverty rates. Sociodemographic variables also were investigated. The independent variables were correlated with depressive symptoms to identify which independent variables were associated with depressive symptoms. Multiple linear regression analyses provided more information about the relationships among all the variables.

Results: The results indicated a relationship between social capital and depression. When investigating the relationship between social capital and income inequality, social capital mediated the relationship between income inequality and depressive symptoms. Social capital also significantly predicted depressive symptoms. Sociodemographic variables were related to depressive symptoms and influenced the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: Depressive symptoms and social capital were significantly related for the YRBS and BRFSS data. This relationship remained significant when other social determinant variables were included in the analysis. These results support future research on the relationship between environmental factors, including social capital and income inequality, and depression. Public health interventions that engage community members may be one avenue to increase social capital and influence rates of depression.