Informal Caregiver Social Network Types and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience

Pildoo Sung*, Jeremy Lim-Soh, Rahul Malhotra

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Little is known about whether and why social networks protect mental health among informal caregivers. This study examined the association between informal caregiver social network types and depressive symptoms and the mediatory mechanism of psychological resilience. Latent class analysis, applied to cross-sectional data on 278 Singaporean caregivers, identified four social network types: restricted (42%), friend (16%), family (21%), and diverse (21%). Path analysis showed that the diverse social network type, compared to the restricted social network type, was associated with a lower level of depressive symptoms, and psychological resilience fully mediated this association. Interventions should help caregivers to maintain social networks with their family and friends.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)693-708
    Number of pages16
    JournalJournal of Aging and Social Policy
    Volume36
    Issue number4
    Early online date29 Feb 2024
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2024

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Demography
    • Gerontology
    • Life-span and Life-course Studies

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Singapore
    • social network typology
    • Caregiving
    • depression
    • psychological resilience

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Informal Caregiver Social Network Types and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this