Objectives. To determine 1) whether the wife’s depressive symptoms increase the odds of depression in older married men and 2) what other factors are associated with depression in this cohort. Methods. 4328 heterosexual spouse/partner pairs were interviewed as part of wave 1 of the Health and Retirement Survey. Spouse pairs were sampled if at least one spouse was between the ages of 51 and 61years at the time of survey. A shortened version of the Center for Epidemiologic Surveys Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. A cut-off score of 9 or above on the 33-point scale was used to determine clinical significance. Results. 12.4% of husbands and 17.2% of wives had significant depressive symptoms. The mean duration of marriage was 30 years. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that Native American/Alaskan Native husbands had the highest prevalence of depressive symptoms, compared with European Americans (odds ratio [OR]=3.3, p<.001). The odds of a husband’s having significant depressive symptoms also increased with poor physical health (OR=7.4, p<.001), recent decline in health (OR=1.6, p=.04), low marital satisfaction (OR=9.9, p=.05), finding time with wife unenjoyable (OR=2.0, p=.004), low satisfaction with job (OR=1.8, p<.001) and wife’s depressive symptoms (OR=1.8, p<.001). The odds of a husband’s having significant depressive symptoms decreased with increasing age (OR=0.9, p<.001). Conclusions. Wife’s depressive symptoms and quality of the marital relationship were associated with higher odds of husband’s depressive symptoms. These results suggest that depression treatment in older married men should include considerations of family context.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will: 1. Identify factors associated with depressive symptoms in mature married men. 2. Identify spouse characteristics associated with depressive symptoms in mature married men
Keywords: Depression, Elderly
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.