A Longitudinal Change Patterns of Depression and Its Relationship with Socioeconomic Deprivation among Middle-Aged Adults in South Korea.

Soo-Bi Lee,Myeong-Sook Yoon,Min-Ji Yu

doi:10.3390/ijerph182412957

Soo-Bi Lee, Myeong-Sook Yoon + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412957

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Abstract

This study aimed to identify the longitudinal pattern changes of South Koreans’ midlife depression and determine the impact of socioeconomic deprivation on the observed change in patterns. In total, 3975 middle-aged individuals were examined by conducting a latent class growth analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis on seven years of Korea Welfare Panel data (2012–2018) using STATA 16.0 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, USA). The change patterns of midlife depression were classified into normal depression reduction group, mild depression maintenance group, and serious depression increase group. The impact of the experience of socioeconomic deprivation on the classified change patterns was examined using the normal depression reduction group as the reference group. It was found that the higher an individual’s nutritional, housing, occupational/economic, and healthcare deprivation, the higher their risk of mild depression maintenance or serious depression increase. The serious depression increase group showed higher relative risk ratios in all domains. Comprehensive and integrated social welfare services, such as stable income, housing welfare, and healthcare services, should be provided along with appropriate clinical interventions for depression alleviation that account for the pattern changes in midlife depression.

Highlights

Individuals belonging to the normal depression reduction group and the mild depression maintenance group, which are within the normal range of depression, could be provided with preventive education and intervention programs in the community mental health service system
We examined the association between various types of socioeconomic deprivation experienced by middle-aged adults and the change patterns of their midlife depression
Nutritional, housing, healthcare, and occupational/economic deprivation significantly affected these changes in patterns, and the relative risk ratio increased as the depression score moved toward the serious depression increase group

Summary

Introduction

In Korea, the middle-aged population (40–64 years) accounts for 40% of the total population [1]. In Korea’s aging society, middle-aged individuals are an important demographic in terms of providing social welfare. Given the lowering of the retirement age due to the labor market structure, middle-aged Koreans’ work status has become unstable. They become vulnerable to multi-level stress due to the pressure of caring for their parents and dependent adult children, their growing financial and psychological burdens, and their swelling anxiety about their future as senior citizens [2,3,4,5].

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