Less Depression Associated with Social Support Among Older Urban Adults

ABSTRACT

Objectives

We examined the association between social and emotional support and screening for depression in older adults (aged 70 years and older) living in New York City during COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Between February and March 2022, 298 participants who had previously completed a random digital dial survey of landlines in New York City and consented to follow-up completed the second round survey. The outcome of interest – depression – was assessed using the PHQ-2.

Results

Participants had a mean age of 78 years (SE = 0.49), were majority (60.8%) female and 42.4% lived alone. Overall, 20.2% of participants screened likely for depression. In the multivariable logistic regression, compared to participants who reported “always or usually” receiving social and emotional support, those who reported receiving such support “sometimes” had 1.9 (p = .251) the odds of screening for depression, and those who reported “rarely or never” receiving social and emotional support had 4.9 (p = .003) the odds of screening likely for depression.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the importance of promoting social connectedness and support networks and indicate a potential mechanism for improving the prevention and management of depression in older adults during major health threats such as natural disasters, catastrophic weather, or other emergencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Social support
• depression
• COVID-19
• older adults
• mental health

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the New York City residents aged 70 and older who took the time to participate in our study, both in 2021 and 2022.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data are available upon request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The second round of SILVER research was funded by New York Community Trust, grant # P21-000816.