RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Self-report measures of depression are highly important tools used in research and in various healthcare settings for the diagnosis of different levels of depression. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is the first and the most popular scale used to screen for late-life depression. It is endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Geriatric Society (1992). The purpose of the present research was to investigate whether scores on the GDS15 capture depressive mood (i.e. trait depression), depressive affect (i.e. short-term depressive state), or both. METHODS: For this purpose, a trait-state model (stable trait, autoregressive trait, and state model) was applied to GDS15 scores obtained at four time points over a 6-year period among a sample of community-dwelling older persons (N = 753). This model allows decomposing the GDS15 scores into three different variance components: stable trait variance, autoregressive trait variance, and state variance. RESULTS: Our findings revealed a general pattern of a major proportion of stable trait (69%) and autoregressive trait (22%) variance and a very smaller amount of state variance (9%) in the GDS scores across 6 years. Age and gender (i.e. being female) were shown to be positively linked to more stable trait variance. CONCLUSIONS: Depression, as assessed with the GDS15 , should be regarded as a relatively stable and enduring trait construct, reflecting a stable core of a person's depressivity. The negligible amount of state elements in the variation of the GDS15 scores provides evidence that changing the context will not be enough to cause significant changes in depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Asunto(s)
Síntomas Afectivos/diagnóstico , Trastorno Depresivo/diagnóstico , Evaluación Geriátrica/métodos , Trastornos del Humor/diagnóstico , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Humanos , Vida Independiente , MasculinoRESUMEN
This study aimed to evaluate (a) dyadic associations between relationship quality (RQ) and both depressive and anxious mood (DM and AM), (b) reciprocity hypotheses of negative mood within dyadic interactions, and (c) mediational role of marital idealization between negative mood and relationship quality. Actor-partner interdependence models (APIMs) were performed using data from a sample of 198 dyads. Our results showed that (a) these two facets of negative mood did not have the same weight on RQ and that they had a gender-specific effects pattern, and (b) there was no support for the mood transmission hypothesis. Men's DM displayed direct and indirect (via marital idealization) actor as well as partner effects on RQ, whereas women's DM displayed only a direct actor effect on RQ. There were no significant direct actor effects of AM on RQ, meaning that this link is fully mediated by marital idealization. However, only women's AM showed such indirect effects on RQ.