Y-Q Guo1, C-C Zhang2, H Huang3, X Zheng4, X-J Pan5, J-Z Zheng5. 1. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. Electronic address: guoyanqing9807@163.com. 2. School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. Electronic address: zhangchichen@sina.com. 3. School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. 4. School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. 5. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: In China, elderly make up a large proportion of the society, but their mental health is often overlooked. The aim of this study is to compare mental health and related influencing factors among the empty-nest and the non-empty-nest elderly, and attain the purpose of improving their quality of life. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 488 elderly people aged 60-92 years in six districts of Taiyuan, China. A demographic questionnaire and SCL-90-R were employed to collect demographic variables and evaluate mental health, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate factors related to mental health of the elderly. RESULTS: The empty-nest elderly were mostly male, married, higher education level, higher income and living in urban areas. The scores of SCL-90-R among the empty-nest elderly were lower than those of the non-empty-nest elderly except for psychoticism. Comparing with scores of national norms, some dimension of SCL-90-R had statistically significant differences. Multiple regression analysis showed that the main risk factors of the empty-nest elderly were gender and income, whereas the main risk factor of the non-empty-nest elderly was chronic diseases. CONCLUSION: The mental health status of the empty-nest elderly was better than that of the non-empty-nest elderly. Overall mental health of the study population was at a high level compared with national norms. The elderly who were male, with younger age, having higher income, and without chronic diseases had better mental health status. Copyright Â
OBJECTIVE: In China, elderly make up a large proportion of the society, but their mental health is often overlooked. The aim of this study is to compare mental health and related influencing factors among the empty-nest and the non-empty-nest elderly, and attain the purpose of improving their quality of life. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 488 elderly people aged 60-92 years in six districts of Taiyuan, China. A demographic questionnaire and SCL-90-R were employed to collect demographic variables and evaluate mental health, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate factors related to mental health of the elderly. RESULTS: The empty-nest elderly were mostly male, married, higher education level, higher income and living in urban areas. The scores of SCL-90-R among the empty-nest elderly were lower than those of the non-empty-nest elderly except for psychoticism. Comparing with scores of national norms, some dimension of SCL-90-R had statistically significant differences. Multiple regression analysis showed that the main risk factors of the empty-nest elderly were gender and income, whereas the main risk factor of the non-empty-nest elderly was chronic diseases. CONCLUSION: The mental health status of the empty-nest elderly was better than that of the non-empty-nest elderly. Overall mental health of the study population was at a high level compared with national norms. The elderly who were male, with younger age, having higher income, and without chronic diseases had better mental health status. Copyright Â
Authors: Yosuke Inoue; Annie Green Howard; Bo Qin; Aki Yazawa; Andrew Stickley; Penny Gordon-Larsen Journal: PLoS One Date: 2019-09-26 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Dai Su; Zhifang Chen; Jingjing Chang; Guangwen Gong; Dandan Guo; Min Tan; Yunfan Zhang; Yanchen Liu; Xinlan Chen; Xinlin Chen; Yingchun Chen Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2020-12-16 Impact factor: 3.390