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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 121, No. 3: 448-456
Copyright © 1985 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT OF ELDERLY WOMEN

EVELYN L. GOLDBERG1,, PEARL VAN NATTA2 and GEORGE W. COMSTOCK1

1Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205
2CSR, Incorporated Washington, DC

reprint requests to Dr. Goldberg

A total of 1,144 white married women aged 65–75 years living in Washington County, Maryland were interviewed during February-August 1979 as part of a larger study. This cross-sectional analysis was undertaken to investigate the question of whether or not selected demographic, social network, and social support characteristics of these women were related to their level of depressive symptoms. Women at the low end of the socioeconomic scale were found more likely to have a high level of depressive symptoms than were women at the high end. Two structural characteristics, size and homogeneity of the social network, were also found to be related to symptoms of depression, although only homogeneity of the social network reached statistical significance. There was a larger percentage of women with a high level of depressive symptoms among those with small networks and among those with heterogeneous networks. Those women with good quality networks, which offer the opportunity for social support, were much less likely to have a high level of depressive symptoms than others. Cross-sectionally, social network factors were related to level of depressive symptoms; this relationship now needs to be demonstrated prospectively.

aged; depressive symptoms; health surveys


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