Buber Isabella, Engelhardt Henriette
Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, 6th Floor, 1040 Vienna, Austria.
Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg, Lichtenhaidestrasse 11, 3rd Floor, Postfach 1549, 96045 Bamberg, Germany.
Eur J Ageing. 2008 Feb 13;5(1):31-45. doi: 10.1007/s10433-008-0074-8. eCollection 2008 Mar.
The relation between social support and mental health has been thoroughly researched and structural characteristics of the social network have been widely recognised as being an important component of social support. The aim of this paper is to clarify the association between children and depressive mood states of their older parents. Based on international comparative data from the we analysed how the number of children, their proximity and the frequency of contact between older parents and their children are associated with the mental health of older people, using the EURO-D index. Our results indicate a positive association of children and depressive mood since childless men and women report more depressive symptoms. Moreover, few contacts with children were associated with an increased number of depressive symptoms. The family status was related to mental health as well: older men and women living with a spouse or partner had the lowest levels of depression. Interestingly, the presence of a spouse or partner was more relevant for the mental health of older people than the presence of, or contact with, their children.
社会支持与心理健康之间的关系已得到充分研究，社交网络的结构特征被广泛认为是社会支持的重要组成部分。本文的目的是阐明子女与老年父母抑郁情绪状态之间的关联。基于来自[具体来源未提及]的国际比较数据，我们使用欧洲抑郁量表（EURO-D index）分析了子女数量、子女与老年父母的亲近程度以及他们之间的联系频率与老年人心理健康之间的关联。我们的结果表明，子女与抑郁情绪呈正相关，因为无子女的男性和女性报告有更多的抑郁症状。此外，与子女联系较少与抑郁症状数量增加有关。家庭状况也与心理健康有关：与配偶或伴侣同住的老年男性和女性抑郁水平最低。有趣的是，配偶或伴侣的存在对老年人心理健康的影响比子女的存在或与子女的联系更为重要。
