Association of social network properties with resilience and depression among community-based Korean population

We aimed to determine how the properties of social networks relate to resilient-related status. This crosssectional study used baseline data from the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Etiology Research Center cohort and included 11,132 participants. Ego-centric social network size and intimacy were used to reflect social network properties. Resilient-related status was operationally defined based on the participant's response to the Life Experience Survey and the Back Depression Inventory II. Participants were categorized into three groups: reference (no negative life event; no depression), resilient (with negative life event; but no depression), and depression (no/with negative life event; with depression). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of social networks on the resilient-related status after adjusting for all covariates. Social network size was positively associated with the resilient group for both sex (male: OR = 1.01 [95% CI = 0.96 to 1.05], female: OR = 1.07 [95% CI = 1.03 to 1.11]), whereas intimacy showed a negative association (male: OR = 0.91 [95% CI = 0.82 to 1.01], female: OR = 0.84 [95% CI = 0.76 to 0.92]). Additionally, as each social network property increased, the likelihood of being categorized as belonging to the depression group decreased, regardless of age and sex.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the properties of social networks and resilient-related status. The findings revealed that social network size was positively associated with the resilient group, while intimacy showed a negative association. Furthermore, regardless of age and sex, an increase in each social network property decreased the likelihood of being categorized into the depression group.