Racial differences in Financial Hardship and depressive symptoms among older adults.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between three specific indicators of financial hardship (difficulty paying bills, food insecurity, reduced medication use due to cost) and depressive symptoms by race. This was a cross sectional study using the Health and Retirement Study to analyze the data by conducting a logistic regression (N = 3014). When stratified by race, White participants who were food insecure had nearly a 3.0 higher odds of high depressive symptoms (95% CI: 1.59-5.51) and African Americans who took less medication due to cost had a 5.1 higher odds of reporting higher depressive symptoms (95% CI: 2.30-11.2) compared to those who did not report these hardships. This research highlights the important role expanded socioeconomic measures such as hardship play in the lives of older adult populations. It further elucidates the differences in the specific measures of hardship that impact older adults by race.