Zheng Jichao, Ni Zeqiang
Department of Economics Research, Anhui Academy of Social Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, China.
School of Economics and Management, Hefei University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 May 29;16:1562487. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1562487. eCollection 2025.
More than 30 million older people in China live alone. Research has shown that living alone can lead to poor mental health and that there are mediating variables, such as healthy diet, between living alone and mental health. Therefore, it is important to examine the role of these mediating variables between living alone and mental health to help us develop cost-effective mental health interventions.
We used the multiple regression method in the R software to test the effect of living arrangements on depression by placing the living arrangements variable, the covariates, and the healthy diet variables into the regression equation. We then used the structural equation method with the R software package lavaan to derive the path coefficients of living arrangements on depression scores through the three mediating paths of fruits, vegetables, and nuts consumption. We used bootstrapping to derive confidence intervals for the coefficients.
Multiple regression results showed that the coefficient of the effect of living alone on depressive symptoms was 1.02. At the same time, all three variables of a healthy diet can alleviate depression, i.e., consuming more fruits, vegetables, and nuts helped to reduce depression scores among older adults. In the mediation analysis, living alone affects the mental health of older adults through three channels, namely, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, and nuts consumption, respectively, and the indirect effects of these three channels accounted for 15.47% of the total impact of living alone on depression scores of older adults, with vegetable intake having the most significant effect on depression scores, accounting for 8.35% of the total impact, followed by nuts intake and fruits intake.
Older people living alone are a vulnerable group with poor mental health and require a variety of interventions to improve their mental health. Healthy eating is one possible avenue of intervention; the Government should take diversified initiatives to enhance the healthy diet of older persons living alone.
中国有超过3000万老年人独自生活。研究表明，独居会导致心理健康状况不佳，并且在独居和心理健康之间存在中介变量，如健康饮食。因此，研究这些中介变量在独居和心理健康之间的作用，有助于我们制定具有成本效益的心理健康干预措施。
我们在R软件中使用多元回归方法，将居住安排变量、协变量和健康饮食变量纳入回归方程，以检验居住安排对抑郁的影响。然后，我们使用R软件包lavaan中的结构方程方法，通过水果、蔬菜和坚果消费这三条中介路径，得出居住安排对抑郁得分的路径系数。我们使用自抽样法得出系数的置信区间。
多元回归结果显示，独居对抑郁症状的影响系数为1.02。同时，健康饮食的所有三个变量都可以缓解抑郁，即食用更多的水果、蔬菜和坚果有助于降低老年人的抑郁得分。在中介分析中，独居分别通过水果消费、蔬菜消费和坚果消费这三个渠道影响老年人的心理健康，这三个渠道的间接效应占独居对老年人抑郁得分总影响的15.47%，其中蔬菜摄入量对抑郁得分的影响最为显著，占总影响的8.35%，其次是坚果摄入量和水果摄入量。
独居老年人是心理健康状况不佳的弱势群体，需要多种干预措施来改善他们的心理健康。健康饮食是一种可能的干预途径；政府应采取多元化举措，改善独居老年人的健康饮食。
