Monserud Maria A
1 Department of Sociology, University of Houston, TX, USA.
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2019 Jan;88(1):22-45. doi: 10.1177/0091415017752940. Epub 2018 Jan 19.
Little is known about the implications of marital status for the age patterning of depressive symptoms in later life. Drawing on seven waves of data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, this research uses growth curve models to examine age trajectories of depressive symptoms among continuously married and recently and continuously widowed older adults of Mexican descent (aged 65 years and older; N = 1,452). The findings demonstrate that despite having a higher mean level of depressive symptoms, the recently widowed experienced a similar rate of increase in distress with age to that of their married counterparts. Compared with the married, the continuously widowed had a steeper rise in depressive symptoms with age, although they had fewer symptoms at younger ages in later life. Physical health, financial strain, social support, and church attendance might account to a certain extent for marital status differences in depressive symptoms across later life.
关于婚姻状况对晚年抑郁症状年龄模式的影响，我们所知甚少。本研究利用西班牙裔老年流行病学研究既定人群的七轮数据，采用增长曲线模型，研究墨西哥裔连续已婚、近期丧偶且持续丧偶的老年人（65岁及以上；N = 1452）的抑郁症状年龄轨迹。研究结果表明，尽管近期丧偶者的抑郁症状平均水平较高，但他们随年龄增长的痛苦增加率与已婚者相似。与已婚者相比，持续丧偶者的抑郁症状随年龄增长上升更为陡峭，尽管他们在晚年较年轻时症状较少。身体健康、经济压力、社会支持和参加教会活动在一定程度上可能解释了晚年抑郁症状的婚姻状况差异。
