Meaning in Life and depressive symptoms: a person-oriented approach in residential and community-dwelling older adults

Abstract

Objectives: In current society, an increasing population of older adults and a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in late life is noticeable. A possible protective resource is ‘Meaning in Life’. The objective of this study is to identify from a person-oriented view (a) Meaning in Life-profiles, based on Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning dimensions, and (b) their associations with depressive symptoms.

Methods: A sample of 205 residential older adults (M = 83.20 years, SD = 7.26) and 280 community-dwelling older adults (M = 75.98 years, SD = 4.76) completed questionnaires of Meaning in Life and depressive symptoms. First, cluster analyses examined potential Meaning in Life-profiles. Second, analyses of variance tested associations between these distinct profiles and depressive symptoms.

Results: In both samples, three distinguishable profiles emerged, a ‘Low Presence Low Search’, a ‘High Presence High Search’ and a ‘High Presence Low Search’. Furthermore, older adults with a High Presence Low Search profile witnessed less depressive symptoms, compared to those with a Low Presence Low Search profile. Residential older adults within the High Presence High Search cluster scored in-between the two other clusters for depressive symptoms. However, community-dwelling older adults within this cluster reported similar levels of depressive symptoms as the High Presence Low Search group.

Conclusion: Similar Meaning in Life-profiles were detected in residential as well as community-dwelling older adults. In both samples, older adults with a High Presence Low Search profile reported less depressive feelings, pointing to the importance of spontaneously experiencing Meaning in Life in this life stage.

Keywords:

• Meaning in Life
• depressive symptoms
• older adults
• cluster analyses

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Debbie Baeten, Eva Coenen, Bart Goossens, Laura Heyns, Annelene Pauwels, Anneleen Vandekeybus, Karen Van der Heyden, and Annemarie Van Engeland for their assistance in data collection. We would like to thank the Flemish elderly care-and-nurse units for their collaboration in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.