IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i24p4942-d294817.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Suicide Rates, Social Capital, and Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults in Japan: An Ecological Study

Author

Listed:
  • Tsuneo Nakamura

    (Department of Advanced Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-0856, Japan)

  • Taishi Tsuji

    (Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-0856, Japan)

  • Yuiko Nagamine

    (Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-0856, Japan
    Department of Family Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan)

  • Kazushige Ide

    (Department of Advanced Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-0856, Japan)

  • Seungwon Jeong

    (Department of Community Welfare, Faculty of Health Sciences, Niimi University, Okayama 718-8585, Japan)

  • Yasuhiro Miyaguni

    (Department of Gerontological Evaluation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi 474-8511, Japan
    Institute for Health Economics and Policy, No.11 Toyo-kaiji Bldg, 1-5-11, Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato Ward, Tokyo 105-0003, Japan)

  • Katsunori Kondo

    (Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-0856, Japan
    Department of Gerontological Evaluation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi 474-8511, Japan)

Abstract

Depression is considered the primary risk factor for older people’s suicide. When considering suicide measures, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between depressive symptoms, social capital, and suicide rates. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the relationship between community-level social capital, depressive symptoms, and suicide rates among older people in Japan. We analyzed the data gathered from 63,026 men and 72,268 women aged 65 years and older, totaling 135,294 subjects in 81 municipalities with a population of over 100,000 participants in the 2013 Sixth Long-Term Care Needs Survey and another survey conducted by Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) in 2013 including the same question items as the survey in Japan. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the male suicide standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was positively correlated with depressive symptoms (B = 2.318, p = 0.002), and received emotional support (B = −2.622, p = 0.014) had a negative correlation with the male suicide SMR. In older males particularly, the received emotional support in the community was independently associated with the suicide rate. Therefore, fostering social support in a community could act as a countermeasure to suicide among older males in Japan.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsuneo Nakamura & Taishi Tsuji & Yuiko Nagamine & Kazushige Ide & Seungwon Jeong & Yasuhiro Miyaguni & Katsunori Kondo, 2019. "Suicide Rates, Social Capital, and Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults in Japan: An Ecological Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:24:p:4942-:d:294817
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/4942/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/4942/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Glass, R., 1999. "Social capital and self-rated health: A contextual analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(8), pages 1187-1193.
    2. Lofors, Jonas & Sundquist, Kristina, 2007. "Low-linking social capital as a predictor of mental disorders: A cohort study of 4.5 million Swedes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 21-34, January.
    3. Thomas Saïas & François Beck & Julie Bodard & Romain Guignard & Enguerrand du Roscoät, 2012. "Social Participation, Social Environment and Death Ideations in Later Life," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-8, October.
    4. Tsuyoshi Hamano & Yoshikazu Fujisawa & Yu Ishida & S V Subramanian & Ichiro Kawachi & Kuninori Shiwaku, 2010. "Social Capital and Mental Health in Japan: A Multilevel Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-6, October.
    5. Islam, M. Kamrul & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gullberg, Bo & Lindström, Martin & Merlo, Juan, 2008. "Social capital externalities and mortality in Sweden," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 19-42, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiroki Takeuchi & Kazushige Ide & Ryota Watanabe & Yasuhiro Miyaguni & Katsunori Kondo, 2022. "Association between Increasing Social Capital and Decreasing Prevalence of Smoking at the Municipality Level: Repeated Cross-Sectional Study from the JAGES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-10, April.
    2. Kazushige Ide & Seungwon Jeong & Taishi Tsuji & Ryota Watanabe & Yasuhiro Miyaguni & Hirotaka Nakamura & Miyako Kimura & Katsunori Kondo, 2022. "Suggesting Indicators of Age-Friendly City: Social Participation and Happiness, an Ecological Study from the JAGES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-12, April.
    3. Kazuya Nogi & Haruhiko Imamura & Keiko Asakura & Yuji Nishiwaki, 2021. "Association of Structural Social Capital and Self-Reported Well-Being among Japanese Community-Dwelling Adults: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanibuchi, Tomoya & Murata, Yohei & Ichida, Yukinobu & Hirai, Hiroshi & Kawachi, Ichiro & Kondo, Katsunori, 2012. "Place-specific constructs of social capital and their possible associations to health: A Japanese case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 225-232.
    2. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2015. "Structural social capital and health in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 129-142.
    3. Damiano Fiorillo, 2016. "Workers’ health and social relations in Italy," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(5), pages 835-862, October.
    4. Damiano Fiorillo & Nunzia Nappo, 2017. "Formal volunteering and self-perceived health. Causal evidence from the UK-SILC," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(2), pages 112-138, April.
    5. Vu Bich Ngoc & Nguyen Le Hoang Thuy To Quyen, 2023. "Investigating determinants of quality of life: The case of older people in Ho Chi Minh City," HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE - SOCIAL SCIENCES, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY, vol. 13(1), pages 160-176.
    6. Haruhiko Imamura & Tsuyoshi Hamano & Takehiro Michikawa & Fujimi Takeda-Imai & Takahiro Nakamura & Toru Takebayashi & Yuji Nishiwaki, 2016. "Relationships of Community and Individual Level Social Capital with Activities of Daily Living and Death by Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, August.
    7. Sehee Han & Hee-Sun Lee, 2013. "Individual, household and administrative area levels of social capital and their associations with mental health: A multi-level analysis of cross-sectional evidence," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(7), pages 716-723, November.
    8. Sehee Han & Heaseung Kim & Hee-Sun Lee, 2013. "A Multilevel Analysis of the Compositional and Contextual Association of Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being in Seoul, South Korea," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 185-202, March.
    9. Lumbwe Chola & Olufunke Alaba, 2013. "Association of Neighbourhood and Individual Social Capital, Neighbourhood Economic Deprivation and Self-Rated Health in South Africa – a Multi-Level Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-9, July.
    10. Shiell, Alan & Hawe, Penelope & Kavanagh, Shane, 2020. "Evidence suggests a need to rethink social capital and social capital interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    11. Lindstrom, Martin & Mohseni, Mohabbat, 2009. "Social capital, political trust and self-reported psychological health: A population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 436-443, February.
    12. Yamamura, Eiji, 2011. "Different effects of social capital on health status among residents: Evidence from modern Japan," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 475-479.
    13. Gillian A Lowe & Garth Lipps & Roger C Gibson & Sharon Halliday & Amrie Morris & Nelson Clarke & Rosemarie N Wilson, 2014. "Neighbourhood Factors and Depression among Adolescents in Four Caribbean Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    14. Barış Alpaslan & Julide Yildirim, 2020. "The Missing Link: Are Individuals with More Social Capital in Better Health? Evidence from India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 811-834, August.
    15. Melissa P L Chan & Robert S Weinhold & Reuben Thomas & Julia M Gohlke & Christopher J Portier, 2015. "Environmental Predictors of US County Mortality Patterns on a National Basis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, December.
    16. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2023. "The Effect of Primary School Education on Preventive Behaviours during COVID-19 in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-12, May.
    17. Sirven, Nicolas, 2006. "Endogenous social capital and self-rated health: Cross-sectional data from rural areas of Madagascar," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1489-1502, September.
    18. Pabayo, Roman & Belsky, Jay & Gauvin, Lise & Curtis, Sarah, 2011. "Do area characteristics predict change in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from ages 11 to 15 years?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 430-438, February.
    19. Fabrice Murtin & Federica Marzo, 2007. "HIV/AIDS and Poverty in South Africa: a Bayesian Estimation," Cahiers de recherche 07-08, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    20. infocede, 2001. "Desnutrición infantil en Colombia: inequidades y determinantes," Documentos CEDE 20100, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:24:p:4942-:d:294817. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.