High social trust associated with increased depressive symptoms in a longitudinal South African sample.

ABSTRACT: Several studies have documented a protective association between social trust and mental and physical health, but gaps in knowledge remain. Debates regarding the contextual versus individual nature of social trust are ongoing; research from low- and middle-income countries is lacking, and study designs have been limited for causal inference. To address these gaps, we examined the association between social trust and depressive symptoms using three waves of the National Income Dynamics Study, a longitudinal South African survey. We used individual fixed-effects models to assess the association between changes in scores on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Short Form (CES-D-10) and in individual-level and district-level personalized and generalized trust among 15,670 in

SUBMITTER: Adjaye-Gbewonyo K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5790319 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature