Publication date: Jun 17, 2025
Social capital is known to function as a protective buffer during disasters and crises. This study examines the relationship between neighborhood-level sense of community-a social capital indicator-and mental health before and after widespread COVID-19 vaccine distribution. It uses health survey data from community-dwelling adults in Wisconsin (n = 2048), a series of longitudinal analyses (Generalized Estimating Equation), adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic status, between neighborhood sense of community and mental health across two timepoints. Before the vaccines, participants with strong sense of community showed significantly lower prevalence of symptoms of depression (PR = 0. 81; 95 % CI = 0. 70, 0. 94; p = 0. 004) and anxiety (PR = 0. 88; 95 % CI = 0. 79, 0. 99; p = 0. 03), compared to participants with neutral sense of community. After the vaccines, however, the protective effect drastically diminished for both depressive symptoms (PR for interaction = 1. 76; 95 % CI = 1. 38, 2. 25; p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Demographic | COVID-19 |
| Depressive | Mental health |
| Vaccine | Neighborhood |
| Wisconsin | Sense of community |
| Social capital |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | depression |
| disease | MESH | anxiety |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |