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Introduction Influenced by China's urbanization and intergenerational support culture, the population of the floating older adults in China has increased rapidly in recent years. This population faces the dual pressures of aging and mobility, resulting in a heightened risk of poor mental health. Communities are important for reconstructing social capital in resettlement areas and have rarely been considered in research on the mental health of the floating older adults. This study examined the associations of neighborhood social capital (including structural and cognitive dimensions) with the tendency toward mental illness and with happiness. Methods The data were derived from 659 questionnaires that were completed by respondents aged 55 and above in three cities in Guangdong Province, which has relatively higher concentrations of floating older adults in China. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the relevant hypotheses in this study. Results Although structural neighborhood social capital is positively correlated with happiness, its ability to mitigate mental illness tendency is limited. Cognitive neighborhood social capital not only significantly reduces mental illness tendency and enhances happiness but also acts as a mediating variable linking structural neighborhood social capital to mental health. Moreover, neighborhood social capital has a more significant effect on the mental health of the floating older adults with poor physical health and those who move for family care purposes. Discussion Adopting a positive psychology perspective to define the mental health of the floating older adults, this study explores the relationship between two distinct types of neighborhood social capital and their mental health, extending the application of social capital theory to non-disaster environments. Heterogeneity analysis reveals the necessity of targeted interventions for welfare-dependent subgroups of the floating older adults.
Huang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.