Prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms among rural older Australians and Americans

The Australian Journal of Rural Health
Laurie BuysRosemary Blieszner

Abstract

To examine the predictors of depressive symptoms among older married rural Australian and American men and women, using comparable measures from two separate studies. Postal survey for Australians; telephone interviews for Americans. Rural Australia (six states and two territories) and America (Virginia). Older married rural men and women, aged 65 years and over, in Australia (n = 216) and America (n = 156). Whether predictors of depressive symptoms, specifically demographic factors, health, pain, functional limitations and social networks, differed according to nationality or sex. Approximately one-third of older rural Australian (37%) and Americans (28%) reported recently experiencing depressive symptoms. For Australian men and women, pain was the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms. For American women, dissatisfaction with social support predicted depressive symptoms, whereas no variable predicted depressive symptoms in American men. In the context of a globally ageing population, the fact that nearly one in three older rural people on two continents described themselves as recently feeling depressed is a troubling finding of considerable importance to both practitioners and policy-makers. The findings raise questions...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 7, 2009·BMC Infectious Diseases·Siddharth H ShethTimothy Lahey
Feb 14, 2013·Global Health Action·Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Helen L Berry
Apr 29, 2014·Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics·Erdem YakaZeliha Tunca
Oct 16, 2010·Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics·Joung Hwan Back, Yunhwan Lee
Aug 21, 2008·Australasian Journal on Ageing·Sandra Davis, Helen Bartlett
Jul 11, 2008·International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry·Jo Anne SireyGeorge S Alexopoulos
Feb 7, 2017·The Spanish Journal of Psychology·Berta AusínMiguel A Castellanos
Feb 2, 2013·Clinical Nursing Research·Yaewon SeoJoseph Norman
Sep 30, 2020·The Australian Journal of Rural Health·Emily M AndersonRobin A Ray
May 8, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Xin Gao, Tieying Feng

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