Adolescent Depression: Do the Positive Effects of Social Capital Extend to Mental Health?

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Abstract

Rising levels of depression during adolescence and the plethora of negative outcomes associated with adolescent depression have garnered the attention of researchers in recent years. Higher levels of social capital have been associated with a number of positive health outcomes and behaviors; however, little is known about the association between social capital and mental health. We utilize a sample of 6,204 adolescents from the 1994-1995 wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to estimate a series of Generalized Linear Models predicting youth CES-D depression scores by measures of family and school social capital. Our results reveal that higher levels of social capital are associated with lower depression scores among adolescents. However, breaking from previous studies of social capital, we find that school social capital is more predictive of adolescent depression scores than is family social capital. These results suggest that future research should seek to better understand the school-level characteristics which are especially salient for the mental health of youth.

Authors

• Jared Thorpe, Brigham Young University

• Mikaela Dufur, Brigham Young University-Provo

• Kevin Shafer, Brigham Young University-Provo