Depressive Symptoms in Context: Variations in a Community Sample Based on Dispositional Optimism,Self-Rated Health,Place Attachment,and Social Trust

Abstract

Depression is a serious and growing problem in the United States particularly in rural areas and more so with the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, there is little debate that depressive symptoms and health are experienced in social and physical environments. Using a sample of over 800 rural adults, this study used structural equation modeling to test a model that predicted variations in depressive symptoms as functions of dispositional optimism, self-reported health, place attachment, and social trust. Overall, the model fit to the data was good although some of the indirect pathways were not significant. Suggestions for more research and interventions are discussed.

Keywords

depressive symptoms optimism self-rated health place attachment social trust

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alarcon, G. M., Bowling, N. A., & Khazon, S. (2013). Great expectations: A meta-analytic examination of optimism and hope. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(7), 821–827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.12.004

Alpass, F. M., & Neville, S. (2003). Loneliness, health and depression in older males. Aging & Mental Health, 7, 212–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360786031000101193

Asparouhov

Muthén

(2010). Weighted least squares estimation with missing data. Mplus Technical Appendix, 2010, 1–10.

Bentler

P. M.

(1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238

Brown

B. B.

Perkins

D. D.

(1992). Disruptions in place attachment. In Altman

Low

S. M.

(Eds.), Place attachment. Human behavior and environment (advances in theory and research) (pp. 12). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4_13 .

Byrne

B. M.

(1998). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Carroll

Morbey

Balogh

Araoz

(2009). Flooded homes, broken bonds, the meaning of home, psychological processes and their impact on psychological health in a disaster. Health & Place, 15(2), 540–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.08.009

CDC (2020). Web-based injury statistics query and reporting system (WISQARS). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021a). About Mental Health. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm .

10.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021b). Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html.

11.

Cohen

A. N.

Hammen

Henry

R. M.

Daley

S. E.

(2004). Effects of stress and social support on recurrence in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 82(1), 143–147.

12.

Cohen

Leykin

Lahad

Goldberg

Aharonson-Daniel

(2013). The conjoint community resiliency assessment measure as a baseline for profiling and predicting community resilience for emergencies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(9), 1732–1741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2012.12.009

13.

Cohen

(2004). Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59(8), 676. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.59.8.676

14.

Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method. John Wiley & Sons.

15.

De Dominicis

Fornara

Cancellieri

U. G.

Twigger-Ross

Bonaiuto

(2015). We are at risk, and so what? Place attachment, environmental risk perceptions and preventive coping behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 43, 66–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.05.010.

16.

Fujiwara

Kawachi

(2008). A prospective study of individual-level social capital and major depression in the United States. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 62(7), 627–633. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1136/jech.2007.064261

17.

Gaynes

B. N.

Burns

B. J.

Tweed

D. L.

Erickson

(2002). Depression and health-related quality of life. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 190(12), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-200212000-00001

18.

Guyatt

G. H.

Feeny

D. H.

Patrick

D. L.

(1993). Measuring health-related quality of life. Annals of Internal Medicine, 118(8), 622–629. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-118-8-199304150-00009

19.

Hoeft

T. J.

Fortney

J. C.

Patel

Unützer

(2018). Task-sharing approaches to improve mental health care in rural and other low-resource settings: A systematic review. The Journal of Rural Health, 34(1), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12229

20.

Holt-Lunstad

Smith

T. B.

Layton

J. B.

(2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7(7), e1000316. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316

21.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

22.

Hybels

C. F.

Bennett

J. M.

Landerman

L. R.

Liang

Plassman

B. L.

(2016). Trajectories of depressive symptoms and oral health outcomes in a community sample of older adults. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 31(1), 83–91. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.4292

23.

Kawai

A. T.

Wollan

Yawn

B. P.

(2017). Adverse impacts of chronic pain on health-related quality of life, work productivity, depression and anxiety in a community-based study. Family Practice, 34(6), 656–661. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmx034

24.

Kessler

R. C.

Berglund

Demler

Jin

Koretz

Merikangas

K. R.

Wang

P. S.

(2003). The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication (NCS-R). Jama, 289(23), 3095–3105. https://doii.org/10.1001/jama.289.23.3095

25.

Kim

E. S.

Chopik

W. J.

Smith

(2014). Are people healthier if their partners are more optimistic? The dyadic effect of optimism on health among older adults. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 76(6), 447–453. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2014.03.104

26.

Kim

Lee

Chun

Han

Heo

(2017). The effects of leisure-time physical activity for optimism, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and positive affect among older adults with loneliness. Annals of Leisure Research, 20(4), 406–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2016.1238308

27.

König

H.-H.

Konnopka

(2020). The excess costs of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29, e30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000180

28.

Kroenke

Spitzer

R. L.

(2002). The PHQ-9: A new depression diagnostic and severity measure. Psychiatric Annals, 32, 509–515. https://doi.org/10.3928/0048-5713-20020901-06

29.

Kube

Siebers

V. H. A.

Herzog

Glombiewski

J. A.

Doering

B. K.

Rief

(2018). Integrating situation-specific dysfunctional expectations and dispositional optimism into the cognitive model of depression–A path-analytic approach. Journal of Affective Disorders, 229, 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.12.082

30.

Lambert

Gale

Hartley

Croll

Hansen

(2016). Understanding the business case for telemental health in rural communities. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 43(3), 366–379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-015-9490-7

31.

Landis, R. S., Edwards, B. D., & Cortina, J. M. (2009). On the practice of allowing correlated residuals among indicators in structural equation models. In R. J. Lance, & R. J. Vandenberg, (eds), Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity and fable in the organizational and social sciences (pp. 193–214). Routledge.

32.

Lei

P. W.

(2007). Introduction to structural equation modeling: Issues and practical considerations. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 26(3), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3992.2007.00099.x

33.

Lerner

Henke

R. M.

(2008). What does research tell US about depression, job performance, and work productivity? Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 401–410. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e31816bae50

34.

Macintyre

Ellaway

Cummins

(2002). Place effects on health: How can we conceptualise, operationalise and measure them? Social Science & Medicine, 55(1), 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0277-9536(01)00214-3

35.

Martinez, D., Way, K., Moon, Z., Killian, T., & Garrison, B. (2020). Does a web-first tailored design method work with rural populations? Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 35(2): Article 5. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/jrss/vol35/iss2/5

36.

Mehrotra

Huskamp

H. A.

Souza

Uscher-Pines

Rose

Landon

B. E.

Busch

A. B.

(2017). Rapid growth in mental health telemedicine use among rural Medicare beneficiaries, wide variation across states. Health Affairs, 36(5), 909–917. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1461

37.

Mills

T. L.

(2001). Comorbid depressive symptomatology: Isolating the effects of chronic medical conditions on self-reported depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults. Social Science & Medicine, 53(5), 569–578. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0277-9536(00)00361-0

38.

Moriarty

D. G.

Zack

M. M.

Kobau

(2003). The centers for disease control and prevention's healthy days measures–population tracking of perceived physical and mental health over time. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-1-37

39.

Mossey

J. M.

Shapiro

(1982). Self-rated health: A predictor of mortality among the elderly. American Journal of Public Health, 72(8), 800–808. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.72.8.800

40.

Murayama

Nofuji

Matsuo

Nishi

Taniguchi

Fujiwara

Shinkai

(2015). Are neighborhood bonding and bridging social capital protective against depressive mood in old age? A multilevel analysis in Japan. Social Science & Medicine, 124, 171–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.042

41.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed). Muthén & Muthén. Retrieved July 1, 2020 (https://www.statmodel.com/download/usersguide/MplusUserGuideVer_8.pdf).

42.

National Institute of Mental Health. (2020). Mental Illness. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness .

43.

Norstrand

J. A.

Glicksman

Lubben

Kleban

(2012). The role of the social environment on physical and mental health of older adults. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 26(1–3), 290–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763893.2012.651382

44.

Pyne

J. M.

Fortney

J. C.

Tripathi

S. P.

Maciejewski

M. L.

Edlund

M. J.

Williams

D. K.

(2010). Cost-effectiveness analysis of a rural telemedicine collaborative care intervention for depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(8), 812–821. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.82

45.

Roper Center (2009). “Social Capital Community Survey, 2006: Methodology and Documentation.” Retrieved February 13, 2019 (https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/usmisc2006-soccap.pdf).

46.

Scannell

Gifford

(2017). Place attachment enhances psychological need satisfaction. Environment and Behavior, 49(4), 359–389. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/0013916516637648

47.

Scheier

M. F.

Carver

C. S.

(2018). Dispositional optimism and physical health: A long look back, a quick look forward. American Psychologist, 73(9), 1082. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000384

48.

Scheier

M. F.

Carver

S. C.

Bridges

M. W.

(1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the life orientation test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1063–1078. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063

49.

Steiger

J. H.

(1990). Structural model evaluation and modification: An interval estimation approach. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 173–180 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2502_4.

50.

Tindle

Belnap

B. H.

Houck

P. R.

Mazumdar

Scheier

M. F.

Matthews

K. A.

Rollman

B. L.

(2012). Optimism, response to treatment of depression, and rehospitalization after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74(2), 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e318244903f

51.

Tucker, L. R., & Lewis, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38(1), 1–10.

52.

Vickers

K. S.

Vogeltanz

N. D.

(2000). Dispositional optimism as a predictor of depressive symptoms over time. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(2), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00095-1

53.

Williams

D. R.

Vaske

J. J.

(2003). The measurement of place attachment: Validity and generalizability of a psychometric approach. Forest Science, 49, 830–884.

54.

Wu, Y., Levis, B., Riehm, K. E., Saadat, N., Levis, A. W., Azar, M., Rice, D. B., Boruff, J., Cuijpers, P., Gilbody, S., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Kloda, L. A., McMillan, D., Patten, S. B., Shrier, I., Ziegelstein, R. C., Akena, D. H., Arroll, B., Ayalon L., … Thombs, B. D., (2019). Equivalency of the diagnostic accuracy of the PHQ-8 and PHQ-9: A systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719001314