Social relations and depression in late life-a systematic review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social relations and depression in late life-a systematic review

AU - Schwarzbach, Michaela

AU - Luppa, Melanie

AU - Forstmeier, Simon

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

AU - Riedel-Heller, Steffi G

N1 - Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - OBJECTIVE: Social relations have become the focus of much research attention when studying depressive symptoms in older adults. Research indicates that social support and being embedded in a network may reduce the risk for depression. The aim of the review was to analyze the association of social relations and depression in older adults.METHODS: Electronic databases were searched systematically for potentially relevant articles published from January 2000 to December 2012. Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria for this review.RESULTS: Factors of social relations were categorized into 12 domains. Factors regarding the qualitative aspects of social relations seem to be more consistent among studies and therefore provide more explicit results. Thus, social support, quality of relations, and presence of confidants were identified as factors of social relations significantly associated with depression. The quantitative aspects of social relations seem to be more inconsistent. Cultural differences become most obvious in terms of the quantitative aspects of social relations.CONCLUSION: Despite the inconsistent results and the methodological limitations of the studies, this review identified a number of factors of social relations that are significantly associated with depression. The review indicates that it is needful to investigate social relations in all their complexity and not reduce them to one dimension. Simultaneously, it is important to conduct longitudinal studies because studies with cross-sectional design do not allow us to draw conclusions on causality. Beyond that, cultural differences need to be considered.

AB - OBJECTIVE: Social relations have become the focus of much research attention when studying depressive symptoms in older adults. Research indicates that social support and being embedded in a network may reduce the risk for depression. The aim of the review was to analyze the association of social relations and depression in older adults.METHODS: Electronic databases were searched systematically for potentially relevant articles published from January 2000 to December 2012. Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria for this review.RESULTS: Factors of social relations were categorized into 12 domains. Factors regarding the qualitative aspects of social relations seem to be more consistent among studies and therefore provide more explicit results. Thus, social support, quality of relations, and presence of confidants were identified as factors of social relations significantly associated with depression. The quantitative aspects of social relations seem to be more inconsistent. Cultural differences become most obvious in terms of the quantitative aspects of social relations.CONCLUSION: Despite the inconsistent results and the methodological limitations of the studies, this review identified a number of factors of social relations that are significantly associated with depression. The review indicates that it is needful to investigate social relations in all their complexity and not reduce them to one dimension. Simultaneously, it is important to conduct longitudinal studies because studies with cross-sectional design do not allow us to draw conclusions on causality. Beyond that, cultural differences need to be considered.

KW - Age of Onset

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Cultural Characteristics

KW - Depressive Disorder

KW - Humans

KW - Interpersonal Relations

KW - Social Behavior

KW - Social Support

U2 - 10.1002/gps.3971

DO - 10.1002/gps.3971

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 23720299

VL - 29

SP - 1

EP - 21

JO - INT J GERIATR PSYCH

JF - INT J GERIATR PSYCH

SN - 0885-6230

IS - 1

ER -