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Biomedical subjects

J P Newmann

Publications and source records attributed to J P Newmann.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Changes in depressive-symptom experiences among older women.

Changes in depressive-symptom experiences over a 5-year period were investigated in a community sample of 251 women between the ages of 51 and 92 years. Findings from a confirmatory factor analysis of the SCL-90-R Depression and Additional Symptoms scales (Derogatis, 1983) indicate that two phenomenally different syndromes underlie symptom-reporting patterns. A depressive syndrome, more classic in form, shows decreasing levels with increasing age, although a depletion syndrome, marked by feelings of enervation and a loss of interest in things, shows increasing levels with advancing age. The relative independence of the two syndromes, as well as their differing relations to four more delimited forms of distress that were identified in the analyses, have important implications for future research on the age-depression relation.

Aged

Age differences in depressive symptom experiences.

Age differences in depressive symptom experiences were investigated in a community sample of 368 women between the ages of 51 and 92 who were administered the SCL-90 Depression and Additional Symptoms Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess and compare depressive symptom experiences in a younger (age 51-65) and older (age 66-92) age cohort. Findings show that two somewhat different depressive syndromes underlie symptom reporting patterns, one having higher levels in the older age cohort, the other having higher levels in the younger age cohort. In addition, three more delimited forms of distress -- feelings of enervation, dysphoria, and sleep disturbances -- show higher levels among the older cohort. Implications of these findings for future research on the relation between aging and depression are discussed.

Aged

Depressive symptom patterns among older women.

The structure of depressive symptom patterns was investigated in a community sample of 344 women between the ages of 51 and 92 who were administered the SCL-90-R Depression and Additional Symptoms Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test alternative measurement hypotheses implied by clinical formulations of depressive symptom patterns among elderly persons. The findings show support for the hypothesis that 2 somewhat different depressive syndromes, along with 4 more delimited forms of distress, underlie symptom-reporting patterns. Implications of these findings for future research on the relation between aging and depression are discussed.

Aged

Aging and depression.

The assumption that aging is associated with an increased risk of depression is a recurring theme in the gerontological literature. Yet empirical studies that have investigated the relation between aging and depression do not show consistent support for this assumption or hypothesis. Indeed, some investigators contend that the thrust of empirical evidence favors a view of elderly persons as relatively immune from depression, at least in contrast to their younger adult counterparts. The present article examines the empirical basis for these disparate claims in the context of a careful review of the growing body of research on the relation between aging and depression. The central conclusion of the review is that diverse measurement approaches, coupled with flaws in design and analysis, make it difficult to draw any definitive conclusions regarding the age-depression relation at this time. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research.

Age Factors