Changes in social activities and the occurrence and persistence of depressive symptoms: Do type and combination of social activities make a difference?

Objective: We aimed to explore the association between changes in social activities and the occurrence/persis-tence of depressive symptoms and investigate the difference in effect sizes among the types and combinations of social activities.Methods: The study adopted a valid 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale to assess depressive symptoms in 2480 community-dwelling adults aged 64/65 years. Changes in social-related, learning, and personal activities were classified into four categories: continued low frequency (CLF), increased frequency (IF), decreased frequency (DF), and continued regular frequency (CRF)1. Relative ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using a modified Poisson regression model.Results: Those without depressive symptoms at baseline and who engaged in social-related (RRIF = 0.56 (0.39, 0.81), RRCRF = 0.55 (0.41, 0.74)), learning (RRIF = 0.63 (0.44, 0.89), RRCRF = 0.62 (0.46, 0.85)), and personal activities (RRIF = 0.37 (0.24, 0.57), RRCRF = 0.41 (0.30, 0.56)) at IF or CRF were less likely to develop depressive symptoms. Those with depressive symptoms at baseline, engaging in personal activities at IF (RR=0.67 (0.51, 0.87)) and CRF (RR= 0.80 (0.65-1.00)) were less likely to have persistent depressive symptoms. Participation in all three activities consistently at a regular frequency was inversely associated with the occurrence/persistence of depressive symptoms.Conclusions: The effect of personal activities was more manifest in preventing depressive symptoms than the other two kinds, regardless of depressive symptoms at baseline. Regularly engaging in a combination of all three activities at baseline and follow-up was associated with the occurrence and persistence of depressive symptoms.

Automated summary

Engaging in social-related, learning, and personal activities at increased or continued regular frequency was found to be associated with lower likelihood of developing depressive symptoms. Participation in personal activities at increased or continued regular frequency was also linked to lower likelihood of persistent depressive symptoms for those with depressive symptoms at baseline. Regularly engaging in a combination of these activities was inversely associated with the occurrence and persistence of depressive symptoms.