A structural analysis of relationships among stress, social support, dysfunctional attitudes, and depression in older adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate hypothesized relationships among stress, social support, dysfunctional attitudes, and depression in older persons. This was done by testing a structural path model that represents hypothesized structural relationships among these variables. The data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire containing the Geriatric Scale of Recent Life Events, two scales from the Duke Social Support Index, the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale-Form A, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, and a section for demographic information. The sample surveyed was composed of 359 female and male older (55-93) adults residing in an urban community in the southeastern United States. Statistics were provided to describe the sample and the performance of this sample of older persons on each of the instruments. The structural path analysis revealed that (1) perceived stress predicts symptoms of depression, (2) subjectively-perceived social support moderates symptoms of depression, and (3) heightened dysfunctional thoughts are associated with heightened depression