Life satisfaction, positive affect, depression and anxiety symptoms, and their relationship with sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables in a general elderly population sample from Chile

Sandra Saldivia; Joseph Aslan; Félix Cova; Claudio Bustos; Carolina Inostroza; Anabel Castillo-Carreño

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1203590

Life satisfaction, positive affect, depression and anxiety symptoms, and their relationship with sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables in a general elderly population sample from Chile

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jun 27:14:1203590. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1203590. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sandra Saldivia¹, Joseph Aslan², Félix Cova³, Claudio Bustos³, Carolina Inostroza³, Anabel Castillo-Carreño⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
² Doctoral Program in Psychology, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
³ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
⁴ Department of Fundamentals of Nursing and Public Health, Faculty of Nursing, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.

Abstract

Background: This study aims to describe the relationship between life satisfaction, positive affect, depression and anxiety symptoms with sociodemographic, psychosocial and clinical variables, and to identify the relative importance of these predictor groups.

Methods: We evaluated life satisfaction (SWLS), positive affect (PANAS), depressive (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAI) symptoms and their association with sociodemographic, psychosocial and clinical variables in a multistage, random general population sample of fully functioning individuals aged 60-80 years from the Concepción province and Gran Santiago, Chile (n = 396). We performed weighted multiple regression analysis, considering the complex sample structure with age group, sex, and geographical area, complemented with general and conditional dominance analyses to estimate the relevance of the predictor groups.

Results: We found significant associations with the geographical area, sex, age, education level, household members, having a partner, employment status, caregiver status, economic satisfaction, presence of chronic diseases, medication use, and alcohol use. Satisfaction with health was the most important predictor for positive affect (p < 0.001), depressive (p < 0.001), and anxiety (p < 0.001) symptoms, while alcohol use was the most significant predictor for life satisfaction (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Simultaneously studying the positive and negative dimensions of wellbeing and mental health in older adults allows for a more comprehensive perspective on the challenges faced during this stage of life. This study accounts for previously unknown associations and contributes to the identification of common and specific predictors in both dimensions.

Keywords: anxiety symptoms; depression symptoms; dominance analysis; elderly people; life satisfaction; positive affect.