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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1450720
This article is part of the Research Topic Analyses on Health Status and Care Needs among Older Adults View all 38 articles
Latent profile analysis of depression in elderly spouse caregivers
Provisionally accepted- 1 SIAS University, Xinzheng, Henan Province, China
- 2 Henan Provincial Third People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
Objective: With advancing age, older adults are more likely to experience health problems and a decline in functioning, necessitating long-term care. Spouses play a crucial role in providing care for the elderly. Depression is a significant mental health issue faced by elderly spouses. Categorizing depression into homogeneous subgroups can unveil hidden insights.Methods: This study utilized the Harmonized CHARLS dataset to investigate. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was employed to identify subgroups of elderly spouses who experience depression, and chi-square tests were conducted for univariate analysis. Furthermore, multiple logistic regression was utilized to analyze the associated factors.Results: Spouse caregivers were identified and classified as Low Level Depression (50.6%), High Level Depression (20.0%), and Unstable Affective Depression (29.4%). Gender, education level, self-assessment of health, communication with children, social participation, life satisfaction, and place of residence were found to be influential factors for depression among elderly spouse caregivers. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that, compared to individuals with low levels of depression, those with high levels were significantly associated with gender, education level, self-assessed health status, social engagement, life satisfaction, and place of residence. Similarly, compared to individuals with low levels of depression, those classified as having an unstable affective type were significantly associated with gender, education level, self-assessed health status, 2 and life satisfaction. Furthermore, compared to individuals with high levels of depression, those with unstable affective depression were significantly associated with gender, self-assessed health status, weekly interactions with children, and participation in social activities.This study revealed distinct subtypes of depression among elderly spousal caregivers, emphasizing the importance of targeted interventions in primary care. Tailored intervention strategies addressing the specific characteristics of each subtype may improve caregivers' mental health and enhance their quality of life.
Keywords: Depression, Older spouse caregivers, latent profile analysis, Related factors, older
Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 26 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fuzhe and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Feng Fuzhe, SIAS University, Xinzheng, 451150, Henan Province, China
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