Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2021 Jul-Aug;95:104425. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2021.104425. Epub 2021 Apr 29.
The aim of this study was to analyse the longitudinal association between the transition to an empty nest and depressive symptoms and loneliness, respectively.
Longitudinal data was used from the German Ageing Survey, a representative sample of community-dwelling adults aged 40 and over. The indication of children living outside the respondent's household was defined as an empty nest. A 6-item version of the validated De Jong Gierveld Loneliness scale was used to assess perceived loneliness. The 15 item version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Fixed-effects regression analyses adjusted for time-varying socio-demographic and health-related variables were applied.
The unadjusted regression yielded that transitioning to an empty nest led to decreased loneliness in men (b = -0.05; p < 0.05) and increased depressive symptoms in women (b = 0.48; p = 0.05). However, when controlling for potential confounders, the transition was no longer associated with a change in loneliness or depressive symptom scores.
The empty nest is an expected phase of the family life cycle that most parents will experience. In this longitudinal study, this phase of the family life cycle was shown not to be associated with parents' psychosocial health in terms of loneliness and depressive symptoms. Our study suggests that the consequences of an empty nest have been overestimated in the past. Future longitudinal studies with panel regression models in different cultural settings are needed to confirm our findings.
本研究旨在分析从有子女家庭过渡到空巢家庭分别与抑郁症状和孤独感之间的纵向关联。
本研究使用了德国老龄化调查的纵向数据，该调查是一个年龄在 40 岁及以上的社区居住成年人的代表性样本。子女不在 respondent 的家庭中居住的情况被定义为空巢家庭。使用经过验证的 Jong Gierveld 孤独量表的 6 项版本来评估感知到的孤独感。使用经过验证的流行病学研究中心抑郁量表的 15 项版本来衡量抑郁症状。应用固定效应回归分析调整了随时间变化的社会人口统计学和健康相关变量。
未调整的回归结果表明，从有子女家庭过渡到空巢家庭导致男性孤独感降低（b=-0.05；p<0.05），女性抑郁症状增加（b=0.48；p=0.05）。然而，当控制潜在混杂因素时，过渡与孤独感或抑郁症状评分的变化不再相关。
空巢家庭是大多数父母都会经历的家庭生命周期的一个预期阶段。在这项纵向研究中，家庭生命周期的这一阶段与父母的孤独感和抑郁症状等心理社会健康状况没有关联。我们的研究表明，过去对空巢家庭的后果估计过高。未来需要在不同文化背景下进行具有面板回归模型的纵向研究来证实我们的发现。
