Cultural differences in autonomy, social contacts, and sensory function for depression: A cross-national network analysis of older adults in England and South Korea

PURPOSE: The links between autonomy, social contacts, sensory function, and depressive symptoms in older adults remains underexplored, particularly cross-culturally. This study examined their longitudinal associations in England and South Korea. METHOD: Data were obtained from 4590 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and 3803 participants in the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), aged 65 and older, across three waves (2014/2015 to 2018/2019). Depressive symptoms were measured using eight CES-D items. Autonomy, social contacts, and sensory function were assessed through instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), frequency of social contact, and subjective vision and hearing. Temporal and contemporaneous network structures were analyzed using graphical vector autoregression modelling by gender and country. RESULTS: Impaired IADLs were stronger predictors of depressive symptoms in English men than Korean men (0.20 vs. 0.05). For Koreans, particularly women, social contact and depressive symptoms were mutually predictive (social contact→depressive symptoms: 0.12; depressive symptoms→social contact: 0.07). In English men, vision impairment predicted impaired IADLs (0.07), which then predicted depressive symptoms. In Koreans, hearing impairment predicted low social contacts (0.08), further influencing depressive symptoms. Out-strength centrality showed that IADLs were most influential for English men, while social contact was most influential for Korean men and for women in both countries. Sensory function showed cultural differences, with hearing more influential in Korea, vision in England. CONCLUSIONS: Depression prevention strategies should account for cultural and gender differences, with autonomy more central in individualist contexts and social contact in collectivist ones.