Change in Older Adults Depression Over the Nine Years Between Women and Men = Change in Older Adults Depression Over the Nine Years Between Women and Men

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Although depressive symptoms in older adults are well-investigated, gender difference on the development of depression over time is relatively less understood. Also, age, period, and cohort effects of changes in depression are not differentiated very well. The current study attempts to explore between-individual (interindividual) differences in within-individual (intraindividual) change of depression. The previous studies suggest that the overall depressive trajectories show an inverted bell curve, decreasing at middle age and gradually moving upward at the later years. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to describe the depressive trajectories over the nine year periods between older women and men aged 60 and over. A sample of 1,051 men (mean age of 72.13) and 1,717 women (mean age of 72.57) aged older than 60 are drawn from the wave 1 through wave 9 of Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWPS). Sampled individuals are observed over nine period of measurement, thus the same depression variable is recorded on nine occasions. The overall depression mean score for the nine year periods was 6.06(SD=5.58), and the mean depression score for women was 7.07(SD=5.76), which is much higher than the men`s mean depression score of 4.42(SD=4.84). The polynominal growth model appears to better explain the gender difference in depression, indicating the complex interaction of age with gender effect.