Depressive Symptoms among Economically Disadvantaged African American Older Adults in South Los Angeles

Abstract

Background: Although social, behavioral, and health factors correlate with depressive symptoms, less is known about these links among economically disadvantaged African American (AA) older adults. Objective: To study social, behavioral, and health correlates of depressive symptoms among economically disadvantaged AA older adults. Methods: This survey was conducted in South Los Angeles between 2015 and 2018. A total number of 740 AA older adults (age ≥55 years) were entered to this study. Independent variables were gender, age, educational attainment, financial difficulties, living alone, marital status, smoking, drinking, chronic medical conditions (CMCs), and pain intensity. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms. Linear regression model was used to analyze the data. Results: Age, financial difficulties, smoking, CMCs, and pain intensity were associated with depressive symptoms. Gender, educational attainment, living arrangement, marital status, and drinking were not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Factors such as age, financial difficulties, smoking, CMCs, and pain may inform programs that wish to screen high risk economically disadvantaged AA older adults for depressive symptoms.

Smoking Status and Well-Being of Underserved African American Older Adults

“…This community-based cross-sectional study surveyed a convenience sample (n = 740) of older African Americans residing in South Los Angeles [3,4,6,[28][29][30][31]. Also referred to as "South Los Angeles" Service Planning Area 6 of Los Angeles County, which serves the communities of Athens, Compton, Crenshaw, Florence, Hyde Park, Lynwood, Paramount, and Watts.…”

“…This subset of older adults is faced with numerous health disparities, including lower rates of preventative health services and a greater delay in care. Individuals enrolled in any type of nursing facility, enrolled in any other research study, and who have observable intellectual impairments, were excluded from this study [3,4,6,[28][29][30][31].…”

“…Potential participants were recruited through various methods, including flyers in community areas and healthcare clinics. In addition, potential participants were referred by healthcare providers and already-enrolled participants [3,4,6,[28][29][30][31].…”

Racial Variation in the Association between Childhood Depression and Frontal Pole Volume among American Children

“…Whites (Assari, 2019;Assari & Moazen-Zadeh, 2016aEvans et al, 2019;Moazen-Zadeh & www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/rhs Research in Health Science Vol. 5, No.…”

“…A higher number of prior episodes was also associated with a reduced volume in the dentate gyrus (Treadway et al, 2015). Although considerable research suggests that social, clinical, and behavioral correlates of MDD differ for White and Black individuals (Assari, 2016(Assari, , 2017b(Assari, , 2017c(Assari, , 2018a(Assari, , 2018b(Assari, , 2019Assari & Lankarani, 2016aAssari, Moazen-Zadeh, Lankarani, & Micol-Foster, 2016;Assari, Watkins, & Caldwell, 2015;Carter & Assari, 2016;Evans, Cobb, Smith, Bazargan, & Assari, 2019), we are not aware of any previous studies that have explored racial differences in the association between PFC morphometry and MDD.…”