The Relationship Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health in Those With Epilepsy

Individuals with epilepsy are at a much greater risk of developing depression than the general population (Butler et al., 2019). We sought to understand the relationship between epilepsy, social connectedness, and depression. Specifically, we examined the degree to which an individual's sense of connection to their friends and family predicts depressive symptoms among those with and without epilepsy. We analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Wave IV dataset, which included 5,114 individuals aged 24-32. Seventy-one of the participants in this sample reported an epilepsy diagnosis, and we randomly selected 71 participants without epilepsy from the dataset to serve as controls. We used stepwise multiple regression analyses to examine the extent to which epilepsy, friend connectedness, and family connectedness predicted depression, F(3, 76) = 7.51, p < .001, R-2 = .23. Epilepsy significantly predicted depression, beta = .81, p < .001. Friend connectedness was also a significant predictor of depression, beta=- .23, p = .03, but family connectedness was not, beta = -.11, p = .30. This pattern of results seems to hold for participants with and without epilepsy. We conclude that friend connectedness is an important factor to consider when working with individuals with epilepsy who experience depressive symptoms. Further research is needed to fully understand the factors that contribute to depression in those with epilepsy.