Objective  To examine correlations among daily life ability, mental health status and social participation in community elderly, and to explore mediating effect of social participation on the association between daily life ability and mental health status.

  Methods  With stratified simple random sampling, we recruited 6 160 community residents aged ≥ 60 years in 28 prefecture-level regions across Henan province for a questionnaire survey during January – February 2018. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were performed with SPSS 22.0.

  Results  For the 6 094 valid respondents, the average scores were 91.69 ± 17.33 for daily life ability, 0.50 ± 0.76 for mental health status, and 2.27 ± 3.60 for social participation, respectively. The elderly′s daily life ability was positively correlated with their social participation (r = 0.680, P < 0.01) and mental health (r = 0.431, P < 0.01); the social participation was positively associated with mental health (r = 0.305, P < 0.01). Social participation had a partial mediating effect on the correlation between daily life ability and mental health, with a mediating effect ratio of 48.12%.

  Conclusion  There are significant correlations among community elderly′s daily life ability, social participation, and mental health; the elderly′s daily life ability could affect their mental health directly and indirectly through the mediating role of social participation.