A Longitudinal Study of Risk Factors for Depressive Symptomatology in Elderly Widowed and Married Women
Abstract
Few studies have examined whether risk factors for depressive symptomatology differ in bereaved and nonbereaved individuals or whether risk factors differ in bereaved individuals over time. Between 1979 and 1983 in Washington County, Maryland, the associations between various health and social network variables and depressive symptomatology were evaluated prior to bereavement and at 1 and 12 months after bereavement in 136 widows and 409 married controls. Prior Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores were generally a good predictor of subsequent scores; however, shortly after bereavement prior scores proved relatively uninformative as most widows experienced a marked increase in depressive symptomatology. Poor health and limitations in physical activity at baseline were consistently associated with higher levels of symptomatology. Although having more friends was also consistently associated with lower levels of symptomatology, the effect of family size appeared to be time and circumstance specific. These results suggest that women at risk of prolonged depression after the death of their husbands can be identified prior to or at the time of bereavement and that widows have risk factors similar to those of women at risk of depression in the general community.
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Longitudinal studies of spousal bereavement in the general population have shown that depression returns to baseline within 1-2 years postloss.
“longitudinal studies of spousal bereavement in the general (noncaregiver) population that have shown that depression returns to baseline within 1-2 years postloss (35, 36);”
From Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6. (2003) · cites this paper as [35]
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“Moreover, reduced social support has been reported not only to be associated with aging, but also with the risk of depression and death [25,26].”
BackgroundKunik, M. E. (1998) · General Hospital Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0163-8343(98)00013-9 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A validation study of The Geriatric Depression Scale short form
Herrmann, N., Mittmann, N., Silver, I., Shulman, K. I., Busto, U. E., Shear, N. H., & Naranjo, C. A. (1996) · International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199605)11:5 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Geriatric Depression and Cognitive Impairment: A Follow up Study
Dillon, C., & Filippín, F. A. (2016) · Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Research · doi:10.4172/2167-7182.1000317 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In previous studies depression was associated with concomitant diseases [34], previous personality, altered functional status [33], alcohol abuse [40], hypothyroidism and lack of family support.”
BackgroundDepression, Immune Function, and Health in Older Adults
Applegate, K. L., Kiecolt‐Glaser, J. K., & Glaser, R. (2006) · Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/0-306-47178-7_7 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
A Study on Depression Symptoms of Home-staying Seniors Aged 75 and Over
Kimura, H., & Kanzaki, N. (2013) · JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE · doi:10.2185/jjrm.61.915 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Han, H., Xu, M., Li, W., Chen, J., Liu, Q., Wang, J., Li, M. D., & Yang, Z. (2022) · Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnmol.2022.882396 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Social and Behavioral Risk Factors for Late-Life Depression
Singh, A., & Okereke, O. I. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16045-0_3 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Harlow and colleagues [ 21 ] assessed the association between social network and depressive symptoms in a study involving both married and recently widowed women between the ages of 65 and 75 years; they found that number of friends at baseline had an inverse association with CES-D (Centers for Epidemiologic Studies D…”
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Anxiety Disorders and Depression in Older Adults
Hek, K. (2013) · RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Katayama, K., & Machida, K. (2012) · Japanese Journal of Health and Human Ecology · doi:10.3861/jshhe.78.3
同居家族からのソーシャル・サポートが高齢者のうつ傾向発生に与える影響 : 5年後の追跡調査
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Influence of voluntary work intervention on the mood status of older volunteers
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Les evenements critiques de la vieillesse en tant qu’epreuves préfigurant la mort
Lefrançois, R. (2021) · Frontières · doi:10.7202/1074453ar
DEPRESSION IN OLDER ADULTS- A STUDY ON PATIENTS VISITING A TERTIARY CARE CENTER IN NORTH INDIA
Gambhir, I. S., Sharma, A. R., Chakrabarti, S. S., et al. (2019) · International Journal of Medical and Biomedical Studies · doi:10.32553/ijmbs.v3i5.238
Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction of Konkomba Widows in the Saboba District, Ghana
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Psychological health of retirees in rural Scotland
Graham, A.-L. (2012) · ERA
- Authors
- Harlow, S. D., Goldberg, E. L., & Comstock, G. W.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Comstock, George W.
- Venue
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1991-09-01
- Volume
- 134
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 526-538
- ISSN
- 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6256
- OpenAlex
- W2095652859
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 6.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Public Health Service (31257)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K06HL021670, HL 21670)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- depressive symptoms, widowhood, bereavement, older women, risk factors, marital status, social networks, friends, family size, physical activity, health status, depression prediction, longitudinal change
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Bereavement, Depression, Evaluation Studies as Topic, Family Characteristics, Female, Health Status, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Marriage, Psychological Tests, Risk Factors, Single Person, Social Support
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