Community-Level Participation in Volunteer Groups and Individual Depressive Symptoms in Japanese Older People: A Three-Year Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis Using JAGES Data

Motoki Tamura, Shinji Hattori, Taishi Tsuji, Katsunori Kondo, Masamichi Hanazato, Kanami Tsuno and Hiroyuki Sakamaki
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Motoki Tamura: School of Health Innovation, Kanagawa University of Human Services, Kawasaki 210-0821, Japan
Shinji Hattori: Research Department, Institute for Health Economics and Policy, Tokyo 105-0003, Japan
Taishi Tsuji: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Katsunori Kondo: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Masamichi Hanazato: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Kanami Tsuno: School of Health Innovation, Kanagawa University of Human Services, Kawasaki 210-0821, Japan
Hiroyuki Sakamaki: School of Health Innovation, Kanagawa University of Human Services, Kawasaki 210-0821, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: Background: The current study aimed to investigate the contextual effect of volunteer group participation on subsequent depressive symptoms in older people. Methods: We analyzed the longitudinal data of 37,552 people aged 65 years and older in 24 municipalities surveyed in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study. Volunteer group participation of older people was assessed in 2013 by one question and depressive symptoms were assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale 15 in 2016. To investigate a contextual effect, we aggregated individual-level volunteer group participation by each residence area as a community-level independent variable. We conducted a two-level multilevel Poisson regression analysis using the Random Intercepts and Fixed Slopes Model. Results: The average proportion of community-level volunteer group participation was 10.6%. The results of the Poisson regression analysis showed that community-level volunteer group participation reduced the risk for the onset of depressive symptoms by 13% with a 10 percentage point increase in participation, after adjusting for sex, age, population density, total annual sunshine hours and annual rainfall (incident rate ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–0.98). Conclusions: Older people living in areas with higher volunteer group participation had a lower risk of developing depressive symptoms regardless of whether or not they participated in a volunteer group.

Keywords: social capital; contextual effects; depression risk; social contagion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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