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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1546478
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Factors as Determinants of Medical Conditions, Volume III View all 9 articles
The impact of pain on depression among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China: The chain mediation effect of self-rated health and life satisfaction
Provisionally accepted- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Jieshou People's Hospital, Fuyang, China
Background: This research seeks to explore the association between pain and depression in middle-aged and elderly populations, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of self-rated health and life satisfaction within this framework.The study employed data from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Utilizing linear regression modeling, we examined the primary determinants influencing depressive symptoms in the target demographic. Throughout the investigation, we applied pearson correlation analysis to clarify the relationships among pain, depression, self-rated health, and life satisfaction. Additionally, the PROCESS 3.4 macro was utilized to evaluate the potential mediating effects of self-rated health and life satisfaction on the connection between pain and depression.Result: A significant negative correlation was observed between pain and both self-rated health and life satisfaction (r = -0.381, P < 0.01; r = -0.158, P < 0.01), while a notable positive correlation with depression was identified (r = 0.356, P < 0.01).Self-rated health exhibited a positive correlation with life satisfaction (r = 0.265, P < 0.01) and a negative correlation with depression (r = -0.399, P < 0.01). Furthermore, life satisfaction was negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.359, P < 0.01).Additional analyses suggest that self-rated health and life satisfaction act as significant mediators in the relationship between pain and depression. The mediation analysis revealed that the direct effect of pain, self-reported health, life satisfaction, and depression on the outcome was 62.13%, while the indirect effect accounted for 37.87%.The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics between pain and depression, providing essential insights for addressing depression in the middle-aged and elderly demographic.
Keywords: Pain, Depression, Health Status, life satisfaction, Mediation
Received: 16 Dec 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Gui and Wang. 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:
Keke Wang, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Jieshou People's Hospital, Fuyang, China
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