title: Mental health and related influencing factors among the empty-nest elderly and the non-empty-nest elderly in Taiyuan, China: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In China, elderly make up a large proportion of the society, but their mental health is often overlooked. The aim of this study is to compare mental health and related influencing factors among the empty-nest and the non-empty-nest elderly, and attain the purpose of improving their quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 488 elderly people aged 60-92 years in six districts of Taiyuan, China. A demographic questionnaire and SCL-90-R were employed to collect demographic variables and evaluate mental health, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate factors related to mental health of the elderly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The empty-nest elderly were mostly male, married, higher education level, higher income and living in urban areas. The scores of SCL-90-R among the empty-nest elderly were lower than those of the non-empty-nest elderly except for psychoticism. Comparing with scores of national norms, some dimension of SCL-90-R had statistically significant differences. Multiple regression analysis showed that the main risk factors of the empty-nest elderly were gender and income, whereas the main risk factor of the non-empty-nest elderly was chronic diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mental health status of the empty-nest elderly was better than that of the non-empty-nest elderly. Overall mental health of the study population was at a high level compared with national norms. The elderly who were male, with younger age, having higher income, and without chronic diseases had better mental health status.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. Electronic address: guoyanqing9807@163.com.
authors.forename: Y-Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. Electronic address: zhangchichen@sina.com.
authors.forename: C-C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: X-J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: J-Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Mental health; SCL-90-R; The empty-nest elderly; The non-empty-nest elderly; The related risk factors