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Regularly playing the popular Chinese strategy game Mahjong may be associated with a reduced risk of depression among urban adults, according to a study conducted in China.
Mahjong is a tile-based game that was developed in China during the Qing dynasty and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players.
"Global economic and epidemiologic trends have led to significant increases in the burden of mental health among older adults, especially in the low- and middle-income countries," said Adam Chen, an associate professor at the University of Georgia in the US.
Poor mental health is a major issue in China, which accounts for 17 percent of the global disease burden of mental disorders, according to the study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
The benefits of participating in social activities to mental health have been widely acknowledged, and some work has been done in developed nations, including the US and Japan, to better understand this relationship.
However, little is known about the role of social interaction and mental health outside of these settings.
"Social participation manifests itself in different formats within different cultural contexts," said Chen.
Chen and collaborators from China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology analysed survey data from nearly 11,000 residents aged 45 years and older from the nationally representative China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.
They looked at symptoms of depression and compared it to the type and frequency of social participation, including visiting with friends, playing Mahjong game, participating in a sport or social club, and volunteering in the community.
The finding was in line with other studies, but Chen was surprised to find that rural Chinese overall tended to report poor mental health compared to their urban counterparts.
"Traditionally, rural China featured tight-knit communities of close kinship, often with a limited number of extended large families in a village," he said.
"We were expecting strong ties and communal bonds in rural China, but it appears that we were wrong," said Chen.
He suspects that the social structures in rural China were disrupted as many able-bodied adults moved into cities to find work. While family ties remained strong, community ties weakened in rural areas.
"One hypothesis is that mahjong playing tends to be more competitive and at times become a means of gambling in rural China," he said.
(This story was auto-published from a syndicated feed. Only the image has been altered by FIT)
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