title: Lifetime romantic attachment style and social adaptation in late-onset depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measuring social adjustment (including attachment style and current social adaptation) in late-life depression may support planning secondary prevention, rehabilitation, and treatment. Insecure attachment style is a risk factor for developing new depression, and social adjustment may constitute a problem after symptoms abatement. Few studies have examined attachment style and social adjustment in late-onset depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects 50 years of age and older with early-onset (n = 35), late-onset DSM-IV unipolar depression (n = 38), and never-depressed volunteers (n = 47) were assessed with a widely used measure of attachment style (the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale). Social adjustment was measured using the Social Adjustment Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both early-onset and late-onset patients with depression showed greater insecure attachment and poorer social adaptation compared with never-depressed volunteers. No difference was found between early-onset and late-onset patients with depression on attachment style or social adjustment. There were no significant differences between late-life depression in remission or current on attachment or social adaptation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Insecure attachment style may be a risk factor for late-life depression irrespective of the age of onset. Social maladaptation may persist among individuals with late-life depression in remission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA. sergio-paradiso@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paradiso
authors.forename: Rachelle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naridze
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holm-Brown
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment