Factors Influencing Middle-aged Women's Depression

Background According to the 2013 statistics, The prevalence rate of depression of women was twice compare to man. Especially, about 53% of depression patients were women over age 40. So this study was conducted to analyze whether women's depression is influenced by their socio‐demographic characteristics, life stress, and social support. Methods This study was a descriptive survey, and data were collected during the period from the 1st to 31st of August in 2015, using a self‐reporting questionnaire from 196 women aged between 40 and 60 who were sampled from an urban area through convenient sampling. Results First, among the sub‐factors of life stress, health‐related & role conflict stress were highest. And life stress was higher when social support was low. Second, social support was higher when exercise was done regularly. Lastly, the results of structural equation modeling analysis showed that life stress and social support had a significant effect on depression. Life stress had a significant direct effect on social support, and social support had a significant direct effect on depression. Life stress had an indirect effect on depression through the medium of social support, and their explanatory power was R2＝0.68 and R2＝0.64, respectively. Conclusions This study confirmed that depression was in a very close relationship with life stress and social support. This finding suggests that future health policies for managing middle‐aged women's depression should focus on reducing life stress and reinforcing their social support.