Depression and social connectedness as mechanisms linking frailty to quality of life in older African migrants in Australia
Dzando, Gideon, Ward, Paul R., Mwanri, Lillian, Agbadi, Pascal, and Ambagtsheer, Rachel C. (2025) Depression and social connectedness as mechanisms linking frailty to quality of life in older African migrants in Australia. npj Aging, 11 (1). 98. pp. 1-8.
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Abstract
Older Sub-Saharan African (SSA) migrants often face cumulative stressors that heighten vulnerability with age. Frailty acts as a chronic stressor that reduces quality of life, partly through its association with depression, while social networks may reduce the effect of depression on quality of life. We analysed cross-sectional data from 205 SSA migrants aged 50 years and above in Australia. We tested a moderated mediation model, guided by the Stress Process and Social Buffering frameworks, using structural equation modelling with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Frailty was positively associated with depression (β = 0.72, p < 0.001), and depression was negatively associated with quality of life (β = –0.54, p < 0.001). Depression mediated the frailty–quality of life relationship (β = –0.38, p < 0.001), while social networks also moderated the depression–quality of life path (β = 0.13, p = 0.004). These findings highlight the psychological and social pathways linking frailty and well-being in later life. Interventions that address both physical and mental health while fostering strong social networks could enhance resilience and improve quality of life among older SSA migrants in Australia.
| Item ID: | 89875 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2731-6068 |
| Copyright Information: | ©TheAuthor(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Jul 2026 01:44 |
| FoR Codes: | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology @ 40% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420301 Aged health care @ 40% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 20% |
| SEO Codes: | 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200403 Disability and functional capacity @ 30% 20 HEALTH > 2002 Evaluation of health and support services > 200202 Evaluation of health outcomes @ 40% 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200409 Mental health @ 30% |
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