Centre for Policy on Ageing



Public knowledge of late-life depression and aging
Author(s)	Robert G Zylstra, Jean A Steitz
Journal title	Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol 18, no 1, March 1999
Pages	pp 63-76
Keywords	Depression ; Ageing process ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Ethnic groups ; Social surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Depression among older people is a common, treatable condition, yet few individuals in the US aged over 65 are treated for this disorder. This study used a sample of 235 adults to assess the general public's knowledge of late-life depression and ageing. The data indicated that the sample had little knowledge of ageing in general, and even less about late-life depression. Racial differences were more prominent than were gender differences. Whites and African Americans did not differ in terms of their knowledge of ageing. However, whites were more knowledgeable of depression than were African Americans. This suggests differences in the social construct of depression in the African American community in comparison to whites. The relationship between knowledge of ageing and knowledge of depression is also discussed. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990604004 A
Classmark	ENR: BG: TOB: TK: 3F: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.