[Influencing factors of climacteric women's depression].
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to define the main factors influencing depression of climacteric women.


METHODS
The data was analyzed using a SAS 6.12 PC+ program for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Two hundred seventy climacteric women between 40 and 59 years old were recruited from 6 areas in Korea from Oct. 5, 2002 to Dec. 13, 2002. The reliability of the 7 instruments were tested with Cronbach's alpha which ranged from.82 to.95.


RESULTS
The results were as follows : The mean depression score was 14.17, which was slightly high. The depression was influenced significantly by occupation, economic status, and menopause status. There were significant correlations between all the predictive variables and the depression(r=.73~ -.17, p <.05). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that 59% of the variance in depression was significantly accounted by stress(53%), climacteric symptoms(3%), marital adjustment (2%), and health promotion behavior(1%).


CONCLUSIONS
In reducing the climacteric women's depression, the above major influencing factors should be considered.
Department of Nursing, Hanseo University, Chungnam, Korea. hkchang@hanseo.ac.kr
Hae- Kyung
H
Chang
Bo-Kyoung
BK
Cha