Earlier stress exposure and subsequent major depression in aging women

Socioeconomic and psychosocial adversity in midlife and depressive symptoms post retirement: a 21-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study

OBJECTIVE

We examined whether socioeconomic and psychosocial adversity in midlife predicts post-retirement depressive symptoms.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A prospective cohort study of British civil servants who responded to a self-administered questionnaire in middle-age and at older ages, 21 years later.

PARTICIPANTS

The study sample consisted of 3,939 Whitehall II Study participants (2,789 men, 1,150 women; mean age 67.6 years at follow-up) who were employed at baseline and retired at follow-up.

MEASUREMENTS

Midlife adversity was assessed by self-reported socioeconomic adversity (low occupational position; poor standard of living) and psychosocial adversity (high job strain; few close relationships). Symptoms of depression post-retirement were measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.

RESULTS

After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related covariates at baseline and follow-up, there were strong associations between midlife adversities and post-retirement depressive symptoms: low occupational position (odds ratio [OR]: 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-2.51), poor standard of living (OR: 2.37, 95% CI: 1.66-3.39), high job strain (OR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.09-2.14), and few close relationships (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.12-2.03). The strength of the associations between socioeconomic, psychosocial, work-related, or non-work related exposures and depressive symptoms was similar.

CONCLUSIONS

Robust associations from observational data suggest that several socioeconomic and psychosocial risk factors for symptoms of depression post-retirement can be detected already in midlife.

Older adults display concurrent but not delayed associations between life stressors and depressive symptoms: a microlongitudinal study

OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated the temporal association between life event stressors relevant to older adults and depressive symptoms using a micro-longitudinal design (i.e., monthly increments over a six-month period). Existing research on stress and depressive symptoms has not examined this association over shorter time periods (e.g., monthly), over multiple time increments, or within-persons.

DESIGN

An in-person initial interview was followed by six monthly interviews conducted by telephone.

SETTING

Community.

PARTICIPANTS

Data were drawn from a study of 144 community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms.

MEASUREMENTS

Stressful life events were measured using the Geriatric Life Events Scale (GALES), and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Short - Geriatric Depression Scale (S-GDS).

RESULTS

Using multilevel modeling, 31% of the S-GDS' and 39% of the GALES' overall variance was due to within-person variability. Females and persons with worse health reported more depressive symptoms. Stressful life events predicted concurrent depressive symptoms, but not depressive symptoms one month later.

CONCLUSIONS

The lack of a time-lagged relationship suggests that older adults with depressive symptoms may recover more quickly from life stressors than previously thought, although additional research using varying time frames is needed to pinpoint the timing of this recovery as well as to identify older adults at risk of long-term effects of life stressors.

Religiosity and resilience in persons at high risk for major depression

BACKGROUND

Few studies have examined religiosity as a protective factor using a longitudinal design to predict resilience in persons at high risk for major depressive disorder (MDD).

METHOD

High-risk offspring selected for having a depressed parent and control offspring of non-depressed parents were evaluated for psychiatric disorders in childhood/adolescence and at 10-year and 20-year follow-ups. Religious/spiritual importance, services attendance and negative life events (NLEs) were assessed at the 10-year follow-up. Models tested differences in relationships between religiosity/spirituality and subsequent disorders among offspring based on parent depression status, history of prior MDD and level of NLE exposure. Resilience was defined as lower odds for disorders with greater religiosity/spirituality in higher-risk versus lower-risk offspring.

RESULTS

Increased attendance was associated with significantly reduced odds for mood disorder (by 43%) and any psychiatric disorder (by 53%) in all offspring; however, odds were significantly lower in offspring of non-depressed parents than in offspring of depressed parents. In analyses confined to offspring of depressed parents, those with high and those with average/low NLE exposure were compared: increased attendance was associated with significantly reduced odds for MDD, mood disorder and any psychiatric disorder (by 76, 69 and 64% respectively) and increased importance was associated with significantly reduced odds for mood disorder (by 74%) only in offspring of depressed parents with high NLE exposure. Moreover, those associations differed significantly between offspring of depressed parents with high NLE exposure and offspring of depressed parents with average/low NLE exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater religiosity may contribute to development of resilience in certain high-risk individuals.

Proactive aging: a longitudinal study of stress, resources, agency, and well-being in late life

OBJECTIVES

Using the Proactivity Model of Successful Aging, we examined how internal and external resources contribute to the maintenance of psychological well-being and social activities among older adults who experience normative stressors of aging. Outcome variables in this study are collectively referred to as quality of life (QOL). We also examined the mediating role of proactive adaptations between internal and external resources and QOL indicators.

METHOD

Based on five annual interviews of a sample of 1000 community-dwelling older adults in Florida (effective N = 561), we tested the lagged effects of stressors on two indicators of QOL, four years later. In the full longitudinal model, using structural equations, we estimated the direct effects of internal and external resources on QOL, along with indirect effects through proactive adaptations.

RESULTS

Stressors negatively influenced QOL four years later. Internal and external resources led to better QOL four years later, both directly and indirectly through proactive adaptations of marshaling support and planning for the future.

CONCLUSION

These findings lend support to the Proactivity Model of Successful Aging by documenting the value of proactive adaptations (i.e., exercise, planning ahead, and marshaling support) as proximate influences on QOL outcomes (i.e., depressive symptomatology and social activities). Findings suggest that older adults can maintain successful aging even in the face of health-related and social stressors by invoking accumulated resources to deal actively with the challenges of aging.