Abstract
Data from the Cleveland GAO Study reveal that, over one year, more elderly persons improved or remained stable than declined in self-assessed mental health and psychiatric symptoms. This pattern is contrary to findings that mental impairment increases with age. Factor analysis of a commonly used psychiatric symptom checklist identified two subscales, one a measure of psychological symptoms and the other of somatic symptoms; both of these are analyzed in this report. Secondary analysis of the 1,332 persons for whom data from both Ti (1975) and T2 (1976) are available evaluates this unexpected stability and improvement. Good physical health at T2 and less illness during the year emerged as the most powerful explanands for gains in all mental health measures, with higher educational levels also contributing to such gains. Improvement in self-assessed mental health was more likely for blacks than for whites, and males were more likely than females to show improvement in somatic symptomatology. Implications offindings for measurement of mental health and for the quality of life among the elderly are discussed.
Published Version
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