Lifestyle Behaviours and Mental Health Outcomes of Elderly: Modification of Socio-Economic and Physical Health Effects

Abstract

Lifestyle behaviours and its mediating relationships between socio-economic characteristics and physical health effects have been widely discussed in epidemiological study. Considering a proper study framework, the relationship between lifestyle and mental health has not been rigorously established. Utilizing population based elderly data from Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI), present study has made an attempt to understand the direct and indirect effects of lifestyle behaviours on the mental health outcomes of elderly through statistical path. Six lifestyle behaviours were examined: physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, family relation and social activity. In order to measure mental health, two common symptoms of general psychological stress including anxiety and depression were identified by examining factor structure of twelve item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in Indian elderly. The result shows that anxiety and depression were more common among the elderly with unhealthy lifestyle such as physical inactivity, regular smoking, social isolation and poor family relation. Multivariate analysis also shows, poor physical health, characterised by functional limitation, presence of NCDs, and disability has a stronger influence on anxiety and depression. Moderation analysis suggests that both physical activity and social activity have a moderation effect on anxiety and depression over socio-economic risk factors. This study evidently concludes that unhealthy lifestyle behaviours of older adults such as regular smoking, low level of physical activity are directly vis-a-vis indirectly associated with bad mental health. Therefore, modification of these unhealthy lifestyle behaviours will effectively reduce the burden of psychological distress among older adults in India.