ArticleJournal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi2025
Exploring the Role of Social Welfare Expenditures in Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults in Korea.
Article in Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to explore the role of community-level social welfare expenditures in depressive symptoms among older adults in Korea, with a particular focus on living arrangements.
methodsMulti-level data-comprising individual-level data from the 2019 Community Health Survey and regional-level data from the Korean Statistical Information Service-were analyzed using multi-level ordered logistic regression. The dependent variable was the severity of depressive symptoms as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score, and the primary independent variables were per capita social welfare expenditure, living arrangements, and their cross-level interaction term.
resultsOlder adults living alone exhibited more severe depressive symptoms compared to those living with others (odds ratio [OR], 1.22; p=0.006). Higher community social welfare expenditure was significantly associated with reduced depressive symptom severity (OR, 0.73; p=0.019). Moreover, the protective effect of social welfare expenditure was more pronounced among older adults living alone than among those not living alone (OR, 0.92; p=0.046). Social welfare expenditure was highly correlated with social cohesion, which weakened its independent association with depressive symptoms.
conclusionsThis study highlights the potential of community-level social welfare expenditure to mitigate depressive symptoms among older adults, particularly those who live alone. In light of the rising number of older adults living alone, these findings suggest that non-medical interventions, such as enhanced social welfare programs, may help alleviate depression in this vulnerable population. The strong positive correlation between social welfare expenditure and social cohesion also raises further research questions regarding their interrelationship.
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