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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Social support and depression as risk factors for loss of physical function in late life | | Author(s) | J C Hays, W B Saunders, E P Flint |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 1, no 3, August 1997 |
| Pages | pp 209-220 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Depression ; Informal care ; Mobility ; Self care capacity ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Poor physical function status in older people is a robust predictor of not only medical service use and institutionalisation but also mortality. This study assessed whether depressive symptoms and low social support would predict deficits in three domains of physical function among 3,240 community-dwelling older adults in the Piedmont of North Carolina, United States (US) over one year. Between 7-23% of the sample declined in functional ability, depending on the domain tested. Depressive symptoms and receipt of instrumental support predicted declines in all domains of physical function. Giving instrumental support and subjective social support protected older people against declines, and subjective social support buffered the detrimental effect of depression on risk of physical decline. Findings suggest that significant risk of functional impairment could be reduced among older people if coincidental depressive symptoms could be alleviated and/or deficits in their social environment remedied. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980325226 A |
| Classmark | ENR: P6: C4: CA: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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