title: Depressive Symptoms Among Older Mexicans: The Role of Widowhood, Gender, and Social Integration.
abstract: Widowhood is often associated with decreased mental health. In developing countries with low institutional support, such as Mexico, social integration can be particularly consequential for widowed older adults' psychological well-being. This study investigates the interplay among depressive symptoms, widowhood, gender, and social integration in a nationally representative sample of older Mexicans. Drawing on Waves 1 (2001) and 2 (2003) of the Mexican Health and Aging Study, we estimated the ordinary least squares regressions to examine the implications of widowhood, gender, social support, social network, and social engagement for changes in depressive symptoms between the waves among Mexicans aged 50 and older (N = 8,708). The findings indicate that social integration can mitigate as well as exacerbate depressive symptomatology among older Mexicans. Certain aspects of social integration can moderate marital status-gender differences in depressive symptoms among older Mexicans.
authors: Department of Sociology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA mamonser@Central.uh.edu.
authors: Maria A
authors: MA
authors: Monserud
authors: Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors: Rebeca
authors: R
authors: Wong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D017805:Widowhood / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Mexico; depressive symptoms; gender; older adults; social integration; widowhood
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