Connection between depressive state and perceived social support among people aged 40 to 60 years

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CONNECTION BETWEEN DEPRESSIVE STATE AND PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AMONG PEOPLE AGED 40 TO 65 YEARS

Ivanoski A., Pendaroski M., Blazhevska V.

Abstract

This survey was conducted in order to show how the perceived social support affected people to decrease the possibility of depressive state which occurs as a result of many factors. The survey included 40 respondents (20 men and 20 women) aged from 40 to 65 (middle aged). Each of them received a questionnaire containing demographic data, SD scale for depression and International Support Evaluation List, a questionnaire for perceived social support. The obtained results showed that there was connection between depressive state and perceived social support on level p?.01. The results from the tested Hypothesis 2 showed that there were not any statistically significant differences between men and women in experiensing depressive state and their perceived social support.

Keywords: middle age, depressive state, perceived social support, SD scale, ISEL.

Аннотация

depressive social support experiensing

СВЯЗЬ МЕЖДУ ДЕПРЕССИВНЫМ СОСТОЯНИЕМ И ПОЛУЧЕННОЙ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ПОДДЕРЖКОЙ У ЛЮДЕЙ В ВОЗРАСТЕ 40-65 ЛЕТ

Иваноски А., Пендароски М., Блажевска В.

Настоящее исследование было проведено, чтобы показать, как полученная социальная поддержка влияет на людей и уменьшает вероятность депрессивного состояния, возникающее в результате многих факторов. Мы опросили 40 респондентов (20 мужчин и 20 женщин) в возрасте от 40 до 65 лет (средний возраст). Каждый из них получил анкету с демографическими данными, шкалой семантического дифференциала для оценки депрессии и Международный лист оценки поддержки, а также опросник для оценивания предполагаемой социальной поддержки. Полученные результаты показали, что существует связь между депрессивным состоянием и полученной социальной поддержкой на уровне p?.01. Результаты проверенной Гипотезы 2 показали, что статистически значимых различий между мужчинами и женщинами в условиях депрессивного состояния и полученной ими социальной поддержки не наблюдалось.

Ключевые слова: средний возраст, депрессивное состояние, полученная социальная поддержка, шкала семантического дифференциала, Международный лист оценки поддержки.

Introduction

One of the main goals of the middle aged adults is to find a way to achieve personal well-being and physical health [2]. This is the period when people have enough personal experience to stop and take a glance back at everything they have achieved in their life, to make retrospective on their past from different angles and, on top of this, to foresee what is yet to come, thanks to the surrounding environment (family, work, friends) and to prepare themselves for the rest of their life and the upcoming challenges. According to the theory of Psychosocial Development [5] on the development of the identity throughout the lifetime, one of the important tasks of the mid-life adulthood is to choose and make a decision between two contradictory choices - to be productive or to stagnate. To be productive means to help younger people and colleagues at work to gain new experiences and contribute to their development [11]. On the other hand, stagnation means the complete opposite, and that is defined as moving and acting only within present circles and not helping younger generations to contribute to their better productivity. This period is filled with challenges, changes and transitions of the person itself [11]. The term productivity in psycohological purpose refers to “make your mark” [11]. That means to leave a mark on the world throug some actions such as caring for others as well as creating and accomplishing things that will make the world a better place. Some key characteristics of productivity in this period of live include making some stable relationships with the members of the family and other people, mentoring others (especially younger people) and contributing to the next generations. The productivity or “constructive progress”, especially in this period of life, means to keep going and try to find the way in which you will create something that will be usefull and important for someone else [11].

There is a difference in biological and large part of psychological features between males and females. Accordingly, males and females experience depressiveness differently and it leaves different consequences depending on the gender. With few exceptions, prevalence, incidence and morbidity risk, depressive disorders are higher in females than in males [13]. The rate of suicide and depression is higher in males than in females, and this led to establishing new approaches which would conceptualize gender differences in the mental health [7]. As for the married couples, one study showed that depression of one of the spouses could lead to divorce or temporary separation [15] and moreover, the interpersonal conflicts and the lack of mutual support in unstable relationships where conflicts are frequent could again lead to depression.

The moment the person is born they are surrounded by other people, their family. Since that first contact, people are in constant relations with other individuals throughout life. Family members are the first people who give support to the newborn, and in that way, one learns that support is positive and important to their future development. Communication with others is inevitable in the everyday living, especially nowadays, regardless of the way it is realized and it's intensity. Sources of social support can be various: spouse, parents, friends, neighbors. Even though it is very important, recently, as Rook [14] has recognized that not all personal relationships are good ones and not all social interactions affect older adults positively. Long time ago, Kaplan [9], offered one broad definition of social support which says: “The base of social support (which, in order to exist must be operated by a certain subject) helps the individual to mobilize their psychological resources, to unload the psychological and emotional burden they carry, to help them with their everyday responsibilities, to help them financially and to give them directions in the cognitive way of dealing with things”. One of the first scientists who was dealing with social support and who placed it among other theories of social studies is Sidney Cobb. He defines social support as: “Information leading the subject to believe that he is cared for and loved, esteemed, and a member of a network of mutual obligations” [3]. One of the studies has shown that low well-being remained a predictor of increased future depressive symptoms while also accounting for baseline depressive symptom scores [6]. The previous studies point to the fact that the perceived social support is related to better mental and physical health [10] and that perceived social support is essential compared to the received support when it comes to adjustment to stressful life events [16]. The essence of the social support does not only refer to the physical presence of other people, but also to the personal experience that we are cared for, loved and esteemed, and that we are part of a communication network of mutual obligations [1]. Another study shows that perceived satisfaction with support is more strongly related with well-being in older adults, whose results point to differential links of insecure attachment styles with perceived support in different life-stages and to related cognitive, emotional and social processes [8].

Method and materials

This survey used convenience sample. The survey was conducted in the period from April, 2016 to June, 2016. The age of respondents varies from 40 to 65 and the total sample was 40 people.

This survey used a questionnaire for demographic data, scale for depressive condition and a questionnaire for perception of social support.

1. The SD scale was used to measure the state of depression. It was created by Zdenka Novovic, Miklos Biro and Tanja Nedimovic in 2009 [12]. The scale contains 20 items with 5 point Likert scale, formulated in a way to assess presence of signs of depression from the domain of depressive affect, indicative cognitive contents and processes, as well as other behavioral and motivational interferences in relation to the depressive state.

2. The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List[4] is a questionnaire which measures perceived available and potential social resources, that is to say four different kinds of perceived social support. This questionnaire contains 40 items that are answered by four-point Likert type scale (1=definitely false, 4=definitely true) and contains four subscales: tangible support, self- esteem, feeling of belonging and appraisal support.

Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: “There is a connection between depression state and perceived social support in 40 to 65 year-old adults”

Hypothesis 2: “There is a difference between depressive state and perceived social support in males and females aged 40 to 65 years”.

Results

Demographic-social characteristics of the sample

The total number of respondents was 40, of whom 50% males and 50% females. In terms of gender, there was equal representation of participants, 50% males and 50% females. The age range of participants was from 40 to 65. According to the level of education, 5% of the participants had elementary education, 65% secondary education and 30% had university education. In terms of marital status, 85% were married, 5% divorced and 10% single. Taking into consideration the age group that underwent this examination, these rates were expected. In terms of employment, 95% of participants were employed, whereas 5% were unemployed. In terms of material status of the family, 10% had low, 37.5% relatively low, 45% good and 7.5% very good material status. In terms of nationality, up to 97.5% were Macedonian and 2.5% Serbs.

Results gained from tested hypotheses

The Hypotheses 1 states: “There is a connection between depression state and perceived social support in 40 to 65 year-old adults”. This hypothesis was examined using Pearson coefficient (r). Based on this coefficient, r = 0,44, it can be concluded that the hypothesis is confirmed on level p<.01, which means that the increase of the level of perceived social support decreases the level of the depressive state.

Hypothesis 2: “There is a difference between depressive state and perceived social support in males and females aged 40 to 65 years”. For the purposes of this hypothesis a t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences between males and females. Differences in arithmetical mean is on level p>.05 which means that there was not any statistically significant difference and the hypothesis that there is difference between depressive state and perceived social support in males and females aged 40 to 65, cannot be confirmed. The same applies for perceived social support. There was not any significant difference whether males or females receive bigger support. The social support is essential for both of them at this period of their life.

Conclusion

This study was made to get insight in what would be gained as a result in an environment where current social circumstances and occurrences had significant contribution in what was gained through this research. After analyzing the obtained results from the research, the Hypothesis 1 has been confirmed and is statistically significant at level p<.01. Эn this research, the results from hypothesis 1 showed that increased level of perceived social support results in decreased level of depressive state. This happens due to the everyday social contacts with people and they should be the source of support and understanding. Communication and interaction with others is an everyday process which is inevitable for all individuals. On the other hand, depressive state is short-termed, with specific duration and it depends on the individual. It happens as a result of lack of social support, lack of parental help, dissatisfaction from the course of life in many areas, etc. Also, this research article shows that the possible difference in the arithmetic mean, searched between males and females concerning depressive state and perceived social support has not been detected. The results obtained from Hypothesis 2, shows that there is no statistically significant difference betwen men and women in experiencing depressive state (F=,656; Sig.=,423) and there is no statistically significant difference betwen men and women in experiencing perceived social support (F=1,011, Sig. =,321). What is obviously visible with the result obtained from the tested Hypothesis 1 is that the perceived social support and depressive state have their own field of connection. With this, we want to say that people in the middle aged are facing activities of a socially supportive nature that can move them in two directions: one is a positive mood followed by an active social life, and the other direction is reduced social relationships with the near and depressed mood. It is also important to take into account the fact that people at this time of life are experiencing greater biological changes in the body that affect the overall psychic status. When we are talking about social support, we think of a wide range of activities and behaviors that a person should manifest and implement in her everyday life, as well as to receive it through the realization of joint activities with relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. One main thing that should be noticed and is recommended for the people in this period of life and also is desirable to stay active in many fields and to keep the communication with the relatives, friend and colleagues because their essential meaning of life.

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