Aging & Mental Health最新文献

Objectives: This study examines the joint trajectories of depressive symptoms in heterosexual married couples.

Method: Using the dyadic latent growth curve model on dyadic data from the Health and Retirement Study (2002-2020; N = 2,130 couples), we analyzed the joint trajectories of depressive symptoms and baseline predictors.

Results: Three distinct trajectories emerged: depressed husbands happy wives (Profile 1, 13.6% of couples), depressed wives happy husbands (Profile 2, 16.1% of couples), and happy couples (Profile 3, 70.3% of couples). Higher husband education, longer marriages, and better husband cognitive function reduced the odds of a couple being in discordant trajectories (profiles 1 or 2). Wives' older age and higher education decreased the likelihood of a couple being in Profile 2. Chronic diseases and physical limitations in either partner increased the likelihood of a couple belonging to profiles 1 or 2. Husbands' health issues were linked to Profile 1, while longer marriages and wives' health issues were linked to Profile 2.

Conclusion: The depressive symptoms of most couples move in tandem. Personal characteristics and couple-level factors (e.g. marital duration and intra-couple discrepancies) shape joint trajectories. Dyadic mental wellness interventions present a viable approach for promoting the well-being of both partners.

Objectives: Caregivers for people with neurogenerative diseases (PWNDs) often experience health declines during active caregiving. However, evidence is mixed as to whether caregivers' health recovers after caregiving ends. Financial hardships can create health issues for caregivers during active caregiving and may influence their health changes after caregiving is over. We examined changes in caregivers' health after PWNDs had passed away, and determined whether these changes were associated with household income level.

Method: Thirty-seven caregivers of PWNDs who had reported their health using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) during active caregiving (T1) were recontacted and completed the same health measure and a measure of household income after caregiving had ended (T2) due to the death of the PWND.

Results: For the entire sample, caregivers' emotional well-being and energy improved but physical functioning trended downward after caregiving had ended. Univariate latent change score models revealed that lower income level was associated with less favorable trajectories of change, with lower income level associated with less improvement in emotional well-being and energy and greater declines in physical functioning.

Conclusion: Caregivers with lower income may be vulnerable to persistent negative health outcomes after active caregiving has ended. Finding ways to support lower-income caregivers is crucial for maintaining their health after caregiving has ended.

Objectives: Late-life depression (LLD) is a significant mental health concern among older adults. While early-life experiences have lasting impacts on mental health, their influence on LLD trajectories remains poorly understood.

Method: Using five-wave data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2020, we analyzed depressive symptoms in 5,764 respondents aged 60 and above. Depressive symptoms were measured with the CES-D-10 scale. Early-life experiences were assessed through childhood parental relationships, family dysfunction, and health and socioeconomic status. Latent class growth analysis was first employed to identify LLD trajectories. Then, multinomial logistic regression examined associations between early-life experiences and LLD trajectories.

Results: Three LLD trajectories were identified: Low-Stable (57.91%), Moderate-Increasing (32.17%), and High-Increasing (9.92%). Poor maternal relationships, physical abuse, parental mental illness, poor health, and lower socioeconomic status during childhood were significant predictors of higher risks for the Moderate-Increasing or High-Increasing trajectories.

Conclusion: Early-life experiences significantly predict LLD trajectories among older adults. These findings emphasize the importance of interventions targeting early-life adversities to mitigate their long-term effects on LLD evolution. Early interventions hold promise for improving mental health trajectories in older adults by addressing these childhood determinants.

Objectives: Diet has been postulated as a modifiable risk factor for the onset of depression. Here, we tested the hypothesis that weekly and daily consumption of healthy food decreases the prevalence ratio (PR) of depressive symptoms in older adults.

Method: Data from 1197 participants from the third wave of data collection of the EpiFloripa Aging cohort study (2017-2019) were used. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15); the frequency of consumption of healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, whole food, fish, and beans) were collected through a questionnaire to evaluate the regular consumption of the food groups (≥5 times/week for fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grain; ≥2 times/week for fish; ≥5 times/day for fruits and vegetables combined). Poisson regression was used to examine the associations between food intake and depressive symptoms. A Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) was created to define the minimal adjustment model.

Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 14.6%. A statistically significant inverse association was found between regular consumption of healthy food and depressive symptoms: ≥5 times/week for fruits (PR = 0.71 [95%CI: 0.56, 0.90]), vegetables (0.81 [0.68, 0.96]), beans (0.84 [0.74, 0.96]), and whole grains (0.86 [0.74, 0.99]); once a week for fish consumption (0.82 [0.71, 0.95]); 2-4 times/day (0.80 [0.65, 0.97]) and ≥5 times/day (0.75 [0.58, 0.96]) for fruits and vegetables (FV).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that older adults who regularly consume healthy food are less likely to experience depressive symptoms. Further longitudinal studies are necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between diet and depression.

Objectives: Insomnia and major depressive disorder (MDD) independently contribute to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). This study examined their combined associations with ADRD risk to inform targeted prevention and intervention strategies.

Method: This retrospective cohort study used TriNetX electronic health records included dementia-free patients aged ≥50 years (n = 1,868,790; 2011-2023). Cox proportional hazards models, with entropy balancing adjustment, estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for ADRD risk overall and by race.

Results: The cohort was 58% aged 50-64, 59% female, and 82% White. At baseline, 1.1% had both insomnia and MDD, 3.8% had insomnia only, 4.8% had MDD only, and 90.4% neither. ADRD incidence was 2.3% (28.8 per 10,000 person-years). Adjusted HRs showed a 91% higher risk for both conditions (HR = 1.91; 95% CI: 1.51-2.42), 11% for insomnia alone, and 70% for MDD alone. Race did not significantly modify these associations.

Conclusion: Co-occurring insomnia and MDD markedly increase ADRD risk, with MDD as the primary contributor. Addressing sleep disturbances and depression may help lower dementia risk vulnerable populations.

Objectives: Perceived ageism is a relevant variable for understanding adults' mental health across different ages. The Perceived Ageism Questionnaire (PAQ) assesses how adults perceive ageism directed towards themselves-both negative and positive ageism-through dimensions of stereotype, prejudice and discrimination. The aim of this study was to (a) analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the PAQ and (b) analyze the associations between PAQ, mental health, and age.

Method: Across two different samples, 1,941 participants between 18 and 91 years completed the PAQ. In addition to perceived ageism, depression, anxiety, stress, and satisfaction with life were assessed. An exploratory (sample 1; n = 970) and confirmatory (sample 2; n = 971) factor analysis of the PAQ was performed. The PAQ's reliability, relationship with other assessed variables, and age distribution were evaluated.

Results: The Portuguese PAQ demonstrated good internal consistency in both samples. Factor analyses supported a bidimensional structure: perceived negative and positive ageism showed distinct patterns. Higher perceived negative ageism was significantly correlated with worse mental health. Negative ageism exhibited a U-shaped distribution across age, with younger and older adults reporting higher levels than middle-aged adults.

Conclusion: The Portuguese version of the PAQ shows good psychometric properties, supporting its use in Portuguese-speaking populations.

Objectives: This study examines whether, and to what extent, widowed individuals experience increases in emotional and social loneliness. It specifically investigates whether strengthened parent-child relationships mitigate increases in loneliness following widowhood.

Methods: Using survey data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) from 1996 to 2021, we examined changes in loneliness and the quality of the parent-child relationship during the transition to widowhood with fixed effects regression models. Mediation models tested whether improvements in the quality of the parent-child relationship mitigate the increase in loneliness following widowhood.

Results: The analysis revealed a persistent increase in emotional loneliness following widowhood for both men and women. Increases in social loneliness were less pronounced and only significant for men at later stages. Mothers, but not fathers, reported increased contact frequency and greater emotional closeness with their children after spousal loss. Mediation analyses, however, did not indicate that such an improved parent-child relationship mitigates increases in loneliness following widowhood.

Conclusion: The enduring elevation in emotional loneliness after widowhood, combined with the delayed rise in social loneliness, underscores the lasting challenges faced by surviving spouses. The findings highlight the limited capacity of parent-child relationships to fill the emotional void left by a deceased partner.

LGBTQ+ people living with dementia are a heterogeneous group who are more likely to be socially isolated and may have unique social support structures. After lifetimes of personal, structural and systemic isolation, LGBTQ+ people living with dementia are less likely to seek formal support, particularly from heteronormative and cisgenderist aged care providers. With most people living with dementia relying on informal care, it is important for us to understand the distinct ways in which peer support may operate for socially isolated LGBTQ+ people living with dementia. This paper focusses on the experiences of LGBTQ+ peer supporters who visited LGBTQ+ people living with dementia as part of a formal program in Australia. In focus groups with peer supporters the arts-based method, body mapping, was used to support participants to describe their embodied experiences and needs when caring for and about an LGBTQ+ person living with dementia. The study highlighted that the peer supporters used strengths based, gender affirming approaches to support LGBTQ+ people living with dementia. In line with concepts drawn from ethics of care, these relationships value diversity and emerge from a deep moral commitment to caring for LGBTQ+ elders as an expression of mutual authenticity. Despite this commitment, volunteer visitors experienced grief, not only because the people they visited died, but also at their inability to change systems that did not serve the people they cared for.

Objective: Older adults who continue to struggle with or wish to change their past decisions and experiences may experience existential regrets. Such regrets can lead to a weakening of social relationships and social withdrawal among older adults. This study aims to evaluate the relationships between existential regret and social efficacy and social outcome expectations among older adults.

Method: This cross-sectional study included 361 individuals aged 60 years and over. The data were collected face-to-face between April 15 and May 30, 2025. Data were collected via the "Personal Information Form," "Multidimensional Existential Regret Scale," and "Social Efficacy and Social Outcome Expectations Scale." For data analysis, Student's t test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation tests were used.

Results: The existential regret of older adults was 127.49 ± 33.40, their social efficacy was 43.95 ± 9.57, and their social outcome expectation was 22.75 ± 4.76. There was a weakly significant positive correlation between existential regret and social efficacy and social outcome expectations (r = 0.278, p < 0.001). The existential regret, social efficacy, and social outcome expectations of the participants differed according to their future plans and self-confidence (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings show that older adults have lower existential regret and higher social efficacy and social outcome expectations. These results are promising for their psychosocial well-being.