THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE, GENDER AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN REHABILITATION INPATIENTS

Although commonly accepted as the dominant emotional reaction to funct ional loss, the reported occurrence of depression in rehabilitation pa tients varies widely. Rather than focusing solely on depressive sympto ms, this study furthers our understanding of emotional distress follow ing a functional loss by assessing a range of psychiatric symptoms. A series of rehabilitation patients admitted to an urban hospital inpati ent unit is used as the sample (n = 48). Demographic, neuropsychologic al, and a functional independence measure were included as independent variables. The statistical analysis revealed that - although age was not correlated with years of education, functional status, or neuropsy chological impairment - there was a significant inverse relationship b etween age and reported emotional distress. Utilizing MANCOVA to explo re the impact of age and gender on specific groups of psychiatric symp toms revealed that both younger and male patients tended to express ps ychiatric symptoms more frequently. The importance of considering age and gender in evaluation of emotional distress in rehabilitation is su pported in this comprehensive study of psychiatric symptoms.