Living arrangements, depression, and health status among elderly Russian-speaking immigrants

This study examines the relationship between living arrangements, depressio n, and health status in a community-based sample of 300 elderly Russian-spe aking immigrants. Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire survey method. The questionnaire was designed to investigate various aspec ts of health, mental health, health services utilization, and health behavi ors. A team of bilingual professionals was involved in the construction and translation of the survey instrument. The sample consists of 150 females a nd 150 males. The respondents' average age was 73.2 years. The regression a nalysis reveals that elderly Russian-speaking immigrants who live alone are more likely to experience a higher level of depression than those living w ith others. This relationship remains statistically significant after contr olling for age, education, income, ability to speak English, years residing in the United States, gender, and health status. Since health status appea rs to influence depression, we performed further regression analyses and fo und that living arrangements had no statistically significant relationship with health status. Health status serves as an intermediate variable betwee n the block of demographic variables and depression. Implications for futur e research are discussed.