title: What do network members know? Network members as reporters of depression among Caucasian-American and African-American older women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether family members and friends can be accurate reporters of depression in older women and whether their reports predict diagnostic depression concurrently and across a one-year time interval.
  
  
  METHODS
  African-American and Caucasian older women (N = 153; mean age = 75) previously screened for depression nominated network members (NMs) who could be contacted as informants. NMs completed an informant version of the CES-D, described their closeness to the participant, the extent of the participant's support from family and friends, and their assessment of the participant's typical coping strategies. These reports were then used to predict participant CES-D, Hamilton depression scores, and Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) depression diagnoses concurrently and at six-month and one-year intervals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NMs' estimates of participants CES-D status were highly correlated with participants own CES-D scores, and also predicted Hamilton depression scores and SCID diagnoses concurrently and at six months and one year later. NMs' ratings of participants' use of positive coping also predicted depression at six months and one year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NMs knew when elderly women were depressed and their reports were accurate predictors of depression even one year later, which implies that elderly depression does not abate spontaneously. Future research should test the possibility that family and friends might be recruited as allies in encouraging earlier treatment and in providing support to older adults through difficult life transitions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA. heller@indiana.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Viken
authors.forename: Ralph W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Swindle
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019727:Proxy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D058028:Research Report / Q000592:standards*; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology