Support in Times of Need: How Aging Adults with Depressive Symptoms Fare in Receipt of Social Support in Rural South Africa

Abstract The relationship between mental health and receipt of social support is not well understood in low- and middle-income countries. In this paper, we focus on a cohort of older adults (40-plus) in rural South Africa to unpack associations between mental health and receipt of social support, and the extent to which marital status modifies these associations. We use baseline data from a population-based study “Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa” (HAALSI) conducted between 2014 and 2015. Our results suggest that men and women who report depressive symptoms receive less social support: women receive less emotional and financial support, and men receive less physical and financial support. Both men and women who are married or partnered receive more social support than their non-married counterparts. The association between depressive symptomology and receipt of social support differs for women who are separated/divorced and for men who are widowed. Specifically, separated or divorced women with depressive symptoms are more likely to get physical or financial support relative to those who are married or cohabiting; for men, those that are widowed are more likely to get physical support than their married counterparts. Our findings speak to the complicated association between social support, marriage and mental health in later life and the different experiences that men and women may have.