Widowhood and Depression Across European Countries: the Moderating Role of Particulate Matter

Sophia Noel , Sciences Po, Paris CRIS

The negative impacts of stressful life events and air pollution on mental health have been documented separately in distinct literatures. However, few studies take an interdisciplinary approach to assess the potential interaction between stressful life events and air pollution on mental health resulting from similar stress response mechanisms. I consider to what extent air pollution moderates the mental health consequences of one stressful life event, widowhood, for depressive symptoms across European countries. I apply data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe- Environment (SHARE-ENV), which includes information on respondent’s environments, to mixed effects regressions. I find that widowhood is associated with an increase in depressive symptoms, while air pollution yields weaker direct effects. However, I find that air pollution aggravates depressive symptoms following widowhood. This finding suggests that life events should be considered alongside more commonly included time-invariant sociodemographic moderators concerning air pollution and mental health outcomes.

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 Presented in Session P6. Health, Mortality, and Ageing 2