Poverty among older adult women in Turkey: The association between poverty, quality of life, and depressive symptoms

Abstract

The factors associated with depressive symptoms in women struggling with poverty continue to be the subject of debate in the literature. This study aimed to examine the relationship between poverty and depressive symptoms in older adult women struggling with poverty in Turkey and to investigate the mediating role of quality of life in this relationship. The population and sample of the study consisted of 400 older adult women aged 65 years and above living in Turkey (M = 71.7, SD = 6.7). According to these findings, poverty has a positive direct relationship on depressive symptoms and a negative direct relationship on quality of life in older adult women. Finally, this study found that quality of life plays a partially negative mediating role in the relationship poverty on depressive symptoms in older adult women. In other words, quality of life was found to have a preventive role in the relationship between poverty on depressive symptoms. Based on these findings, several recommendations have been made to strengthen the mental health of older women.