Centre for Policy on Ageing



Affective states in normal and depressed older people
Author(s)	M Powell Lawton, Patricia A Parmelee, Ira R Katz
Journal title	The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 51B, no 6, November 1996
Pages	pp P309-P316
Keywords	Mental health [elderly] ; Depression ; Residents [care homes] ; Variance analysis ; Evaluation ; United States of America.
Annotation	Ratings on a 10-item affect checklist yielding composite positive affect and negative affect scores were made daily for 30 days for older people in residential care. 19 were diagnosed as having major depression, 21 had minor depression, and 37 were 'normal'. Mean levels of positive affect were highest in normal people, and least in those with major depression. Negative affect was lowest in the normal, and highest in those with major depression. Variability was least among those with major depression in positive affect, and among normal people in negative affect, while residents with minor depression showed some tendency, although inconsistent, toward greater day-to-day variability in positive affect. In this study, clinical major depression is characterised less by 'pervasive' depressive affect than by anhedonia (unresponsiveness to pleasurable stimuli).
Accession Number	CPA-971125223 A
Classmark	D: ENR: KX: 3YA: 4C: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.