Investigating the Value of Spiritual Well-Being and Psychosocial Development in Mitigating Senior Adulthood Depression

Abstract

While society often associates aging with despair, many older adults journey through the final stages of life with integrity, hope, and wisdom. Spirituality facilitates healthy aging by providing senior adults with a sense of meaning, purpose, and self-integration. Based on the existential and psychosocial paradigms, this study investigated the relationships between older adults' spiritual well-being, personality development according to Erikson's model, and level of depression. Participants included 78 senior adults ages 65-95 who were recruited from 4 senior centers, 1 church, 2 federally funded low-income independent living facilities, and 1 private independent living facility. The Geriatric Depression Scale, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the Measure of Psychosocial Development Scale were used to examine the relationships between depression, spirituality, and psychosocial development. Results from the multiple correlation coefficients supported the following hypotheses: (1) it was predicted that significant positive relationships existed among aging adults' degree of resolution of generativity vs. stagnation and spiritual well-being, and degree of integrity vs. despair and spiritual well-being; (2) it was anticipated that the degree of resolution of integrity vs. despair was positively associated with high levels of religious and existential well-being; (3) a significant inverse relationship was predicted among depressive symptomatology and spiritual well-being. Results from the multiple regression analysis confirmed the hypothesis that spiritual well-being and personality development were predictive of depression; thus, older adults' level of spiritual well-being, specifically existential well-being, and their degree of resolution of the psychosocial crisis, integrity vs. despair, mitigated senior adults' depression level. Implications for prevention, treatment strategies, and future research were discussed.