Effects of Increased and Decreased Cognitive Social Capital on Depressive Symptoms Along the Income Gradient During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Asymmetric Fixed-Effects Models

Social capital is considered to protect health when facing natural hazard-related disasters and pandemics. We further differentiated the effects of increased and decreased cognitive social capital (measured using generalized trust, trust in neighbors, trust in local government officials, and reciprocity) on depressive symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and examined the moderating effect of household income on these effects, while controlling for unobserved time-invariant factors. Using follow-up data from the 2018 and 2020 China Family Panel Studies (N = 14,908), we conducted asymmetric fixed-effects regression. We found that decreased generalized trust and decreased reciprocity were associated with greater depressive symptoms, whereas their increased components were not associated with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, decreased equivalized household income exacerbated the effect of decreased reciprocity on greater depressive symptoms. Therefore, attention should be paid to preventing cognitive social capital decline to safeguard mental health during a pandemic, especially for people with declining household income. Future studies and policies should consider the distinct health effects of increased and decreased social capital when facing a pandemic.