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. 2021 Feb 14;18(4):1853.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041853.

Precautionary Behavior and Depression in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Hubei, China

Wei Liang  1   2 , Yanping Duan  1   2   3 , Borui Shang  4 , Chun Hu  5 , Julien Steven Baker  1   2 , Zhihua Lin  6 , Jiali He  3 , Yanping Wang  7
Affiliations

Precautionary Behavior and Depression in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Hubei, China

Wei Liang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The large-scale COVID-19 pandemic has not only resulted in the risk of death but also augmented the levels of depression in community-dwelling older adults. The present study aimed to investigate the characteristics of depression in Chinese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, to examine the association of individual precautionary behavior with older adults' depression levels, and to identify the moderating role of socioeconomic indicators in the aforementioned association. Five hundred and sixteen older adults were recruited from five cities of Hubei province in China. They were asked to complete an online questionnaire survey. Results showed that 30.8% of participants indicated a significant depressive symptom during the pandemic. Older adults' depression levels differed significantly in marital status, living situation, education level, household income, subjective health status, and infected cases of acquaintances. Precautionary behavior change showed significant inverse associations with older adults' depression levels, where household income moderated this relationship. This is the first study to investigate the characteristics, behavioral correlates, and moderators of depression among Chinese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research findings may provide new insights into interventions and policy-making on individual precautionary behavior and mental health among older adults for future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; depression; mental health; older adults; online survey; precautionary behavior; socioeconomic status.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Moderation effect of household income on behavior-depression association (n = 516). RCS = Residualized change score; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plot of simple slopes showing the association between COVID-19 precautionary behavior change and depression level at different categories of household income.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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