Citation

Li Y, Lin Z, Wu Y. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022; 19(20): e13534.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph192013534

PMID

36294113

PMCID

PMC9602753

Abstract

The mental health of the elderly is vulnerable during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the risks of depression is increased. The study aimed to explore the effects of physical health, the Big Five personality traits, media use, and different kinds of perceived social support as predictors of levels of depression among the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in more than 120 cities in China with a sample of 1147 older adults, and hierarchical regression was established to examine the predictors of the level of depression. The results showed that almost half of the elderly (48%) had a status of mild or much more severe depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of depression was negatively associated with physical health, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and family support, while it was positively associated with neuroticism and media use. The study emphasized the effects of physical health, the Big Five personality traits, media use, and perceived social support from family as the predictors of levels of depression, providing further measures to help the elderly better react to a public health emergency.

Language: en

Keywords

Aged; Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Social Support; Personality; depression; Depression/epidemiology/psychology; *COVID-19/epidemiology; Pandemics; Big Five; media use; perceived social support; physical health; the elderly