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Loneliness and depression among the elderly in an agricultural settlement: Mediating effects of social support
Author(s) -
Wan Mohd Azam Wan Mohd Yunus,
Din Normah Che,
Ahmad Mahadir,
Ghazali Shazli Ezzat,
Ibrahim Norhayati,
Said Zaini,
Ghazali Ahmad Rohi,
Shahar Suzana,
Razali Rosdinom,
Maniam T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
asia‐pacific psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1758-5872
pISSN - 1758-5864
DOI - 10.1111/appy.12061
Subject(s) - loneliness , social support , multilevel model , depression (economics) , ucla loneliness scale , psychology , association (psychology) , clinical psychology , gerontology , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , machine learning , computer science , economics , psychotherapist , macroeconomics
Loneliness has long been known to have strong association with depression. The relationship between loneliness and depression, however, has been associated with other risk factors including social support. The aim of this paper is to describe the role of social support in the association between loneliness and depression. Methods This cross‐sectional study examined the mediating effects of social support among 161 community‐based elderly in agricultural settlement of a rural area in S ungai T engi, M alaysia. Subjects were investigated with D e J ong G ierveld L oneliness S cale, G eriatric D epression S cale and M edical O utcome S urvey S ocial S upport S urvey. Data were analyzed using P earson correlation, linear and hierarchical regression. Results Results indicated that social support partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and depression. Discussion This suggests that social support affects the linear association between loneliness and depression in the elderly.