Depressive Symptoms in Context: Variations in a Community Sample Based on Dispositional Optimism, Self-Rated Health, Place Attachment, and Social Trust

Depression is a serious and growing problem in the United States particularly in rural areas and more so with the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, there is little debate that depressive symptoms and health are experienced in social and physical environments. Using a sample of over 800 rural adults, this study used structural equation modeling to test a model that predicted variations in depressive symptoms as functions of dispositional optimism, self-reported health, place attachment, and social trust. Overall, the model fit to the data was good although some of the indirect pathways were not significant. Suggestions for more research and interventions are discussed.