Mills Terry L, Alea Nicole L, Cheong Josepha A
Department of Sociology/Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-7330, USA.
Community Ment Health J. 2004 Aug;40(4):309-31. doi: 10.1023/b:comh.0000035227.57576.46.
Depression among older adults is a major public health concern in the U.S. Yet, time and again this condition goes undiagnosed, or attributed to other causes. Despite being treatable, few individuals older than age 65 are treated for this disorder. Using a community sample of 404 African-American and Caucasian older adults, the aim of this study was to identify the sources of racial group variance in self-reports of depressive symptoms. Descriptive and multivariate analyses reveal no racial/ethnic differences in the mean level of depressive symptoms, but differences in the correlates of self-reported depression, as well as differences in the distribution of individual indicators of depressive symptoms.
老年人的抑郁症是美国一个主要的公共卫生问题。然而，这种情况屡屡未被诊断出来，或者被归因于其他原因。尽管抑郁症是可治疗的，但65岁以上的老年人中很少有人接受这种疾病的治疗。本研究以404名非裔美国人和白人老年人的社区样本为对象，旨在确定抑郁症状自我报告中种族群体差异的来源。描述性分析和多变量分析显示，抑郁症状的平均水平不存在种族/民族差异，但在自我报告抑郁的相关因素方面存在差异，以及抑郁症状个体指标的分布存在差异。
