Abstract
BackgroundOlder people coming from a lower wealth gradient are more vulnerable to have stressful life events further adding more risk for common mental health disorders and psychological distress situations. The present study explores the associations between socioeconomic and health-related variables and psychological distress among older adults in India and the contribution of such factors to the inequalities in psychological distress.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 9181 older adults conducted as ‘Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India’ was assessed. Logistic regression and decomposition models were used to analyze the data. Psychological distress was measured from General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The value of Cronbach's alpha was 0.90. It was having a scale of 0 to 12 on the basis of experiencing stressful symptoms and was re-coded as 0 (representing 6+ stressful symptoms) and 1 (representing 5 and fewer symptoms).ResultsOlder adults from the poorest wealth quintile, having no source of income, not working for the last one year period, suffering from multi-morbidity, disabled, with low activities of daily living and low instrumental activities of daily living and poor cognitive ability were suffering from high psychological distress in India. Further, factors such as religion, caste, education, living arrangements, and self-worth in the family were major contributors to the concentration of psychological distress in older adults from poor households (concentration index: − 0.23).ConclusionThe study suggests that among older people, there is a wide disparity of experiencing psychological distress across different socio-economic groups with significant factors being responsible for inequality in psychological distress. There is a need to build a “win-win” circumstance across sectors, including a broad spectrum of health, social and economic benefits to the vulnerable older population.
Highlights
The mean score for psychological distress was higher for older adults living alone, which indicated that older adults living with their spouse only or with others were at a better place than the ones left with no one
The current study investigated the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and inequality in psychological distress among older adults using nationally representative data from Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing (BKPAI)
This study suggests that among older people, there is a wide disparity of socio-cultural, demographic, and economic characteristics with significant factors responsible for inequality in psychological distress
Summary
A considerable increase in life expectancy with the advancement of public health and medical facilities has shifted the population age structure [1], including India where the profile of older adults has changed to 103.8Srivastava et al BMC Psychiatry (2021) 21:179 guilt and worthlessness, leading to impairments in one’s functional ability, accompanied by other diseases deteriorating their quality of life [6, 7], indicating that mental health disorder is directly associated with the physical health and disability.In most of the developing countries including India, globalization led to changes such as rapid urbanization, and out-migration of younger adults that are associated with diminishing preference for intergenerational co-residence further resulting in a tremendous psychological impact on the well-being of the senior citizens/older adults [8,9,10,11,12]. A considerable increase in life expectancy with the advancement of public health and medical facilities has shifted the population age structure [1], including India where the profile of older adults has changed to 103.8. Older adults in India possesses unique cultural characteristics where their vulnerability in terms of educational and occupational status and economic dependency is closely associated with their poor self-rated health respectively [15] their perceived health deteriorates with age and the effect of ill-health is closely related to poor psychological wellbeing [16]. Older people coming from a lower wealth gradient are more vulnerable to have stressful life events further adding more risk for common mental health disorders and psychological distress situations. The present study explores the associations between socioeconomic and health-related variables and psychological distress among older adults in India and the contribution of such factors to the inequalities in psychological distress
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