Stressful events and depressive symptoms among old women and men: A longitudinal study

Depression is quite common among the elderly members of Hong Kong Chinese s ociety. This study examined the impact of a series of common stressful life events (SLEs) on changes in depressive symptoms among the older people. Th e respondents were 260 people aged seventy years or older from a longitudin al study of a representative community sample of the elderly population in Hong Kong. Using multiple regression models, the authors found that, of eig ht SLEs examined, only widowhood was associated with depressive symptoms th ree years later, even after controlling sociodemographic, physical health s tatus, and social support variables were applied. In addition, the SLE infl uenced the depression differently for men and women, as we found that the d eath of a spouse was associated with increased in depressive symptoms among elder women, and the moving out of children was associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms among old men. Finally, we also found a close relat ionship between number of SLEs and depression.