The Effects of Social Activities and Fear of Death on Depression in the Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study, using relevant socio-demographic variables, is to identify depression in the elderly, and to obtain basic information necessary for the development of senior counseling programs by analyzing the relative effects of socio-demographic variables, social activities, and fear of death on the level of geriatric depression. The subjects were 217 elderly individuals living in Seoul and Kyunggi Province, Korea. This study was conducted between February 22nd and March 15th of 2010, and the data were collected using questionnaires of Geriatric Depression Scale, Social Activities Scale, and Fear of Death Scale. Using SPSS/WIN15.0 software, the analysis of the data revealed the following. First, among the relevant socio-demographic variables, age, marital status, education, health condition, economic status, the period of retirement, and support provider affected depression in elderly individuals. Second, geriatric depression was negatively correlated with the level of social activities, but was positively correlated with fear of death. Third, education, health condition, economic status, number of social groups, painful death, and life after death were predictive of depression in the elderly. The implications of this study’s findings on social work practice are also discussed, along with some future research directions.