Gender and marital status differences in depressive symptoms among elderly adults: The roles of family support and friend support

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms as well as between marital status and depressive symptoms in elderly populations, and to examine the roles of friend support and family support in the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms as well as marital status and depressive symptoms.

Method: In a national sample of 1428 elderly adults randomly selected from major Chinese mainland cities, depressive symptoms, friend support, and family support were assessed.

Results: The results revealed a significant relationship between marital status and depressive symptoms; however, the effect of marital status on depressive symptoms was mediated by family support and moderated by friend support. Unlike many previous studies which have found a significant relationship between gender and depressive symptoms, this study failed to reveal any such relationship.

Conclusion: Widowed elderly adults experienced more depressive symptoms than did married. The differences in depressive symptoms between married and widowed elderly people could be explained by the inverse of the level of family support. The subjects’ perception of friend support had different effects on the depressive symptoms of elderly adults with different marital statuses. For finding no relationship between gender and depressive symptoms in this elderly Chinese population, similarities between the sexes in their experience of stressful life events may a possible explanation.

Keywords:

• elderly adults
• family support
• friend support
• mediating effect
• moderating effect

Acknowledgments

The authors thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 30770725, 31070916), National Science & Technology Pillar Program of China (no. 2009BAI77B03), Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (no. KSCX2-YW-R-256), Project for Young Scientists Fund (no. 07CX091009), Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 20100470597) for funding this research. They also thank Rhoda E. and Edmund F. Perozzi for English editing assistance.