Volunteer participation and depression: Interplay of familial trust and autonomy

Depression, a critical public health concern, has a complex relationship with volunteerism, one often seen as beneficial for mental health but varying across cultural contexts. This study probed this dynamic within China, factoring in the moderating effects of familial trust and individual autonomy. Engaging a broad sample of 16,348 individuals aged between 15 and 64 years from the 2018 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey, I deployed a cross-sectional design with stratified probability sampling. Advanced statistical analyses using Stata software revealed that volunteerism was linked to heightened depressive symptoms, but this effect was significantly moderated by familial trust, especially among those individuals with greater autonomy. These insights challenge the assumption that volunteerism is universally advantageous for mental health, underscoring the nuanced role of cultural context and advocating for culturally informed mental health interventions.