Relationships between nutritional status, depression and pleasure of eating in aging men and women.
Nutritional health is an essential component of quality of life among older adults. The aim of this study was to identify the predictors of nutritional status in order to identify both common and sex specific predictive pathways in an aging population. A questionnaire was administered to 464 people living at home aged 65 years and above. Part of the questionnaire contained questions about nutritional status (MNA), depression (GDS), pleasure of eating and demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships between the variables. For both sexes, results indicate that depression and pleasure of eating are related to nutritional status. In addition, different pathways were found between men and women. In particular, while pleasure of eating is affected by depression among aging women this is not the case for men. The implications of the findings for nutrition communication are discussed.
University François Rabelais, Department of Psychology, EA 2114, Psychologie des Ages de la Vie, Tours, France. Electronic address: bailly@univ-tours.fr.
Nathalie
N
Bailly
UPSP GRAPPE, GROUPE ESA, SFR QUASAV 4207, Angers, France.
Isabelle
I
Maître
Unité de Recherche Service de Médecine Gériatrique, Dijon, France.
Virginie
V
Van Wymelbeke
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D057181:Pleasure; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Aging; Biopsychosocial factors; Depression; Malnutrition; Pleasure of eating; Structural equation modeling