The Mediating Effect of Functional Social Support in the Pathway Between Memory and Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Authors

Ifunanya Modebelu, Ashok Chaurasia, Colleen J Maxwell, Mark Oremus

Published in

Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society. Pages 7334648261487098. Sep 08, 2026. Epub Sep 08, 2026.

Abstract

BackgroundMemory impairment and depressive symptoms are common in aging adults, often leading to adverse health outcomes. While memory difficulties are strongly associated with depressive symptoms, whether functional social support mediates this relation is underexplored.ObjectiveWe examined the mediating role of functional social support and assessed moderated mediation by age group and sex. Analyses were adjusted for relevant sociodemographic, health, and lifestyle covariates.MethodsWe utilized three timepoints of data (baseline, 3-year follow-up, and 6-year follow-up) from 5,958 participants aged 45-85 years who were enrolled in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging's Tracking Cohort.ResultsFunctional social support partially mediated the inverse association between memory and depressive symptoms (${\hat{\beta }}_{a{b}_{path}}$ = -0.02; ${\hat{\beta }}_{c-prim{e}_{path}}$ = -0.07; ${\hat{\beta }}_{c_{path}}$ = -0.08; all p < .05; proportion mediated = 0.25). We did not observe any moderated mediation. Interventions to enhance functional social support may strengthen the inverse association between memory and depressive symptoms.

PMID:
42708846
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Sep 2026.

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