ILLNESS INTRUSIVENESS AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS OVER THE ADULT YEARS - IS THERE A DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT ACROSS CHRONIC CONDITIONS

Illness intrusiveness - illness-induced disruptions to lifestyles, act ivities, and interests - has been proposed as an underlying determinan t of the psychosocial impact of chronic illness. Age has been observed to moderate the effect of illness intrusiveness on depressive symptom s in rheumatoid arthritis. The present investigation attempted to repl icate this finding in two other conditions - multiple sclerosis (MS) a nd end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Previously collected data concernin g age, illness intrusiveness, depressive symptoms, and the duration an d severity of illness were available from 94 people with MS and 101 wi th ESRD. Analyses of partial variance, controlling for duration and se verity of illness, indicated that illness intrusiveness, but not age, was significantly and uniquely correlated with depressive symptoms in both groups. However, the hypothesized interaction was nonsignificant in both samples. These results are interpreted in light of recent rese arch concerning the perceived seriousness of illness which may act as a moderator variable to produce these seemingly inconsistent results.