INBRE

The long-term goal of this project is to better understand the qualitatively different ways depressive symptoms reveal themselves among the elderly. The cognitive and interpersonal models for this project are that depressive symptoms are linked to maladaptive coping strategies for dealing with stress and ineffective or negative perceptions of social interactions in the face of those stressors. The assessment of depression in the elderly is complicated by its being masked by other medical conditions, by differences in the reporting styles of elderly patients, and by prevalence of symptoms not traditionally associated with the diagnosis of depression. Several researchers have argued the presence of a distinct pattern of symptoms among older adults, characterized more by motivational deficits than by mood deficits. This pattern of symptoms is suggestive of changes in the ways older adults deal with the unique stresses of aging. The central hypothesis of this study is that distinct experiences of depressive symptoms at different ages in adulthood are associated with variations in coping strategies and perceptions of social interactions. We will (1) compare depressive symptom patterns of middle and older adults who present in primary care settings and (2) compare the middle and older adults who claim depressive symptoms to adults who do not claim symptoms on measures of perceived stress and coping strategies. It is anticipated that this project will demonstrate that different patterns of depressive symptoms will emerge associated with age, with older adults showing less traditional diagnostic profiles. It is further postulated that those symptoms will be associated with different deficits in coping strategies and perceptions in interpersonal relationships. This research will generate preliminary data to be used in support of a longitudinal study to explore changes in symptom patterns over time. This research will provide a better phenomenological picture of depressive symptoms, which should aid in the diagnostic process and contribute to improvement in the lives of the elderly.

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Updated 10/31/2005

The Arkansas INBRE is Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health
and the National Center for Research Resources (P20 RR-16460).

Please contact Caroline Miller Robinson regarding questions or comments about this site or our program. For more information about the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences visit http://www.uams.edu.