Older persons are vulnerable to depression SFduring the ageing process. Financial resources and social participation are expected to have an impact on depressive symptoms. This study investigated the relationship between financial support from children and depression among Chinese older persons, as well as the mediating effect of social participation in this relationship. Data from 7163 participants aged 60 and above were extracted from wave 2015 and 2018 of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). A multivariate regression analysis was performed on both cross-sectional data and two-wave longitudinal data to test our hypotheses. The results revealed that financial support from children was negatively associated with depressive symptoms in both the short-term and the long-term. In addition, this relationship was partially mediated by social participation in the short-term association and fully mediated by social participation in the long-term, where financial support was positively related to social participation, and social participation was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. This study offers an in-depth insight into the relationship between financial support from children and depression among Chinese older persons. Policies and initiatives to stimulate social participation should be promoted to improve older persons’ mental health.

Objectives: Although many studies have explored the benefits of support giving or receiving for older people, little is known about how the balance between giving and receiving instrumental support in nonrelative relationships affects home-dwelling older people. This study examines the relationship between long-term support balance and subjective well-being in relationships with nonrelatives among older people across 11 European countries. Methods: A total of 4,650 participants aged 60 years and older from 3 waves of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe were included. Support balance was calculated as the intensity difference between support received and support given across 3 waves. Multiple autoregressive analyses were conducted to test the relationship between support balance and subjective well-being, as indicated by quality of life, depression, and life satisfaction. Results: The impact of balanced versus imbalanced support on all subjective well-being measurements was not significantly different. Compared to balanced support, imbalanced receiving was negatively related to subjective well-being and imbalanced giving was not related to better subjective well-being. Compared to imbalanced receiving, imbalanced giving showed to be the more beneficial for all subjective well-being measures. Discussion: Our results highlight the beneficial role of imbalanced giving and balanced support for older people compared to imbalanced receiving. Policies and practices should prioritize creating an age-friendly environment that promotes active participation and mutual support among older people, as this may be effective to enhance their well-being.

Background and Objectives: In the context of accelerated global aging and increasing insufficiencies in long-term care delivery, older people are encouraged to provide informal support to each other within their communities. However, the mechanisms facilitating such informal support among older people remain unclear. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the perspectives and experiences of various stakeholders involved in initiatives aimed at stimulating informal support in the community. Research Design and Methods: A qualitative multiple-case study was conducted in five Dutch initiatives stimulating informal support. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a total of 23 different stakeholders and relevant documents were analyzed. An abductive thematic analysis approach was used for data analysis. Results: Our analysis shows that community-based initiatives stimulate mutual support among older people by providing a coherent set of activities and facilities that indirectly, through community building, and directly influence individual behavior. On the community level, initiatives strengthen social cohesion, in terms of, for example, shared values and feelings of belonging. On the individual level, initiatives create opportunities to provide support, help individuals to recognize and strengthen their abilities to give support and stimulate individual motivation. Discussion and Implications: Our findings underscore the need for policies that support informal care through complementary processes, which work in tandem with formal care systems. Policies and practices taking the identified mechanisms into account are likely to stimulate older people to provide informal support to each other in the community, thus enhancing aging in place.

Background: Perceived community environment is important for shaping older people's participation in their communities and for their well-being. Social cohesion and social belonging are two important yet distinct dimensions of perceived community environment that may influence support-behaviour and well-being in different ways. However, previous studies often treated both belonging and support behaviour as components of social cohesion. As a result, the associations between social cohesion and belonging with support provision behaviors and well-being among community-dwelling older people remains underexplored. This study aims at addressing this gap. Methods: A longitudinal survey study design was employed. Data were collected among community-dwelling older people in the Netherlands across two waves with a six-month interval ( N = 675). Multivariate linear auto-regressions and cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) were used to explore the longitudinal associations among support provision, social cohesion, social belonging, and well-being. Sensitivity analyses using change-score regressions were conducted to assess robustness at the intra-individual level. Results: We found that support provision, social cohesion, and social belonging were all positively associated with follow-up well-being. Cross-lagged analyses revealed distinct longitudinal relationships that, social cohesion at T0 was positively associated with increased support provision at T1, whereas social belonging at T0 was not. Sensitivity analyses confirmed that within-person increases in cohesion were associated with increases in support provision, while changes in belonging were not positively related to support changes. Conclusions: Our study offers a new understanding of how the community environment may influence older people's support behaviors. Findings suggest that social cohesion and social belonging play distinct roles in relation to support provision among older people. Practices aimed at facilitating mutual support and well-being may need to take specific roles of different dimensions of community environment into account.