Emotional Sphere in Elderly People: Age and Regional Differences

Abstract

We present a study of the negative aspects of the emotional sphere in elderly man: depression and loneliness. Empirical research was carried out in Moscow and Grozny involving elderly people living in families and in geriatric centers (201 subjects), as well as with middle-aged people (132 subjects). We used the following methods: Zung differential diagnosis of depressive states inventory in adaptation by T.I. Balachova and D. Russell and M. Ferguson Loneliness scale (UKL) in adaptation by N.E. Vodopyanova. It is shown that at the present stage of development of society, middle-aged people already have quite high level of depression and pronounced sense of loneliness. We confirmed the hypothesis that the preservation of the negative aspects of the emotional sphere in elderly people is less dependent on the conditions of life at the micro level (family or gerontology center) and more dependent from the living conditions at the macro level (socio-economic situation in the region). In Grozny, a city of more complex socio-economic situation, negative emotional states are more pronounced than in Moscow.