title: The role of life satisfaction and depressive symptoms in all-cause mortality.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate whether life satisfaction and depressive symptoms are independent predictors of mortality in a non-Western sample of adults. The sample included 5,131 adults (ages 50-95 at baseline) in Taiwan who participated in the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Near Elderly and Elderly. There were 1,815 deaths recorded over a 10-year period. Higher life satisfaction significantly predicted lower risk of mortality after controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, and health status. Depressive symptoms significantly predicted higher risk of mortality. A significant interaction with age revealed that the protective effect of life satisfaction weakened with age. The results suggest that life satisfaction and depressive symptoms independently predict mortality risk in adults.
authors.affiliation: Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. amylovecollins@gmail.com
authors.forename: Amy Love
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Dana A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Glei
authors.forename: Noreen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011594:Psychometrics; D012907:Smoking / Q000401:mortality; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013624:Taiwan