Comparative study on the relationship between depression and personality and social support of urban and rural empty-nest elderly

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between depression and personality and social support of the urban and rural empty-nest, clear the influence factors of depression in the empty-nest elderly. Methods 398 cases of urban and rural empty-nesters selected from the Chifeng district, were valuated with the general information questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Eysenck personality Questionnaire- Revised Short Scalr for Chinese (EPQ-RSC) and the Social Support Scale (SSRS), and to investigate the demographic data, depression, personality and social support. Results Rural cases had a higher level (14.41±3.09) points of depression than (12.90±2.64) points of urban cases, and the difference was statistically significant (t=5.254, P<0.01); rural empty nesters′ subjective support (18.35±2.14) points, objective support (6.37±1.40) points, support utilization degree (6.01±1.17) points and social support score (30.37±4.24) points, were lower than (19.83±2.27) points, (7.34±1.13) points, (6.95±1.12) points, (34.12±3.73) points of urban′s, and the difference was statistically significant (t=6.673-8.490, P<0.01); the extraversion score of urban empty nesters was (7.58±2.51) points which was higher than (6.37±2.02) points of rural empty nesters, and the difference was statistically significant (t=5.273, P<0.01); the neuroticism score (10.38±2.06) points and psychoticism score (9.42±2.17) points of urban empty-nest were lower than (12.41±2.25) points, (10.94±2.10) points of empty-nest′s, and the difference was statistically significant (t=9.401, 7.107, P<0.01). Neuroticism and psychoticism was shown to be positively associated with depression while extraversion and social support to be negatively associated with depression (P<0.01). Regression analysis showed that marital status, income, children visit frequency and the education level were the main influencing factors of depression in the urban and rural empty-nesters. Conclusions There are differences between rural and urban empty-nest elderly in the aspect of general data, depression status, personality and social support, and should intervention them effectively according to their different characteristics. Key words: Depression; Social support; Empty-nest elderly; Personality; Influencing factors