The association between social support, depression, and cognition in mid- to late-life: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

We will map patterns of social support and depression across Canada to see whether regional differences exist. We will also map patterns of cognitive performance across the country to examine whether regional differences exist. We will analyze and map these patterns geographically using specialized software. Besides geographic analysis and mapping, we will examine the links between social support, depression, and cognition using statistical comparisons. We suspect people with high levels of social support will demonstrate better cognitive performance than people with low levels of social support. We believe people with more depressive symptoms will show poorer cognitive performance than people with less depressive symptoms. If so, then our results will justify policies to encourage the development of social support and mental health resources in Canada.