title: Gender and marital status differences in depressive symptoms among elderly adults: the roles of family support and friend support.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms as well as between marital status and depressive symptoms in elderly populations, and to examine the roles of friend support and family support in the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms as well as marital status and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a national sample of 1428 elderly adults randomly selected from major Chinese mainland cities, depressive symptoms, friend support, and family support were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed a significant relationship between marital status and depressive symptoms; however, the effect of marital status on depressive symptoms was mediated by family support and moderated by friend support. Unlike many previous studies which have found a significant relationship between gender and depressive symptoms, this study failed to reveal any such relationship.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Widowed elderly adults experienced more depressive symptoms than did married. The differences in depressive symptoms between married and widowed elderly people could be explained by the inverse of the level of family support. The subjects' perception of friend support had different effects on the depressive symptoms of elderly adults with different marital statuses. For finding no relationship between gender and depressive symptoms in this elderly Chinese population, similarities between the sexes in their experience of stressful life events may a possible explanation.
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Baoshan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D017805:Widowhood