Psychosocial factors and later life depressive symptoms in a Greek community sample

The purpose of this research was to study the role of a selected number of psychosocial factors (e.g., sex, age, educational level, and social support) in the depressive symptomatology of older adults. A sample of 333 community persons, aged 60 and more, were interviewed individually. Significant associations were found between depression and marital status, quality of relationship with children, and living with others. As expected, the more depressed older adults of our sample were significantly more often single, separated or divorced, widowed, without children and, above all, in a negative relationship with their children. The risk of depression was higher among older women than among older men; this may be explained by the fact that older women were significantly more often widowed and lived alone, compared with men. Furthermore, the results indicated that the lower an older adult's educational level, frequency of received visits and deteriorating health condition, the more depressed he or she was. These three variables were significant predictors of group membership (depressed versus nondepressed), and correctly classified approximately 70% of the subjects. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved