DETERMINANTS OF SELF-REPORTED DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS BY FRAIL ELDERLY PERSONS LIVING ALONE

This study examined the effects of life stressors and psychosocial resources on self-reported depressive symptoms for frail elderly living alone in the 1982-84 National Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration (N = 2,081). Significant predictors of depressive symptoms were being white, less education, more ADL impairment, more physical illness and poorer perceived health, more perceived unmet needs, less sense of control, and more informal helpers and the interaction of social participation and loss of a significant other. Implications for research on the relation of these factors among the frail elderly are addressed.