Article

 

Possible Selves and Depressive Symptoms in Later Life Public Deposited

Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/0z708z02c

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • The pursuit of personal goals has been linked to general psychological well-being, however, less is known about the association with depression in later adulthood when individuals are contending with age-related changes in health and social relationships. We explored the connection between both health and social relation goals (as measured by possible selves) and depressive symptoms in a sample of 85 community-dwelling older adults who ranged in age from 60 – 92 years (M = 74, SD = 7.5). Participants took part in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews in which they responded to measures of possible selves (future images of oneself), health, and depressive symptoms. We found that the presence of health-related, but not social-related, possible selves was significantly associated with fewer reported depressive symptoms. Additionally, the presence of health-related fears was specifically linked to fewer reported depressive symptoms. These findings suggested that the promotion of and investment in health-related personal goals may be useful in off-setting depressive symptoms in older adults, as well as indicated a potential benefit of a disease prevention focus regarding health in later life. Finally, the results may have implications for potential clinical interventions in addressing late life depression.
  • This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by SAGE Publications and can be found at: http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal200862
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Bolkan, C., Hooker, K., & Coehlo, D. (2015). Possible Selves and Depressive Symptoms in Later Life. Research on Aging, 37(1), 41-62. doi:10.1177/0164027513520557
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 37
Journal Issue/Number
  • 1
Keyword
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • The research reported here was supported by the Center for Healthy Aging Research at Oregon State University.
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces
Additional Information
  • description.provenance : Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-25T00:04:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HookerKarenPublicHealthHumanSciencesPossibleSelvesDepressiveSymptoms.pdf: 533755 bytes, checksum: 04b7a325f2b83b5e484d2d002a88fec8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01
  • description.provenance : Submitted by Deanne Bruner (deanne.bruner@oregonstate.edu) on 2015-04-25T00:03:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 HookerKarenPublicHealthHumanSciencesPossibleSelvesDepressiveSymptoms.pdf: 533755 bytes, checksum: 04b7a325f2b83b5e484d2d002a88fec8 (MD5)
  • description.provenance : Approved for entry into archive by Deanne Bruner(deanne.bruner@oregonstate.edu) on 2015-04-25T00:04:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 HookerKarenPublicHealthHumanSciencesPossibleSelvesDepressiveSymptoms.pdf: 533755 bytes, checksum: 04b7a325f2b83b5e484d2d002a88fec8 (MD5)

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
HookerKarenPublicHealthHumanSciencesPossibleSelvesDepressiveSymptoms.pdf 2017-07-25 Public