This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0898264308321002v1 20/6/653    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ladin, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ladin, K. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Depression Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Risk of Late-Life Depression Across 10 European Union Countries: Deconstructing the Education Effect

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kladin{at}post.harvard.edu.

	Abstract

Objective: Assess influence of education and noneducation-based measures of socioeconomic status on depression, illuminating the cumulative and income-adjusted effects cross-nationally. Method: Cross-sectional study of 22,777 men and women (50 to 104 years) from 10 European countries. Individual-level data were collected from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Results: Educational attainment was a strong predictor of late-life depression across all countries. Depression rates ranged from 18.10% in Denmark to 36.84% in Spain, reflecting a North– South gradient. Odds of depression were approximately twice as high among adults with less than a high school education compared with those of greater educational background (p < .001). Inverse association between educational attainment and depression remained significant independent of all other sociodemographic variables. Discussion: Socioeconomic disparities in depression persist throughout later life. Variation in impact of education on depression cross-nationally illuminates need for future research into the protective effects of early-life education.

First published on July 17, 2008, doi:10.1177/0898264308321002

Journal of Aging and Health 2008;20:653.

A more recent version of this article appeared on September 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Ladin, N. Daniels, and I. Kawachi Exploring the Relationship Between Absolute and Relative Position and Late-Life Depression: Evidence From 10 European Countries Gerontologist, June 9, 2009; (2009) gnp065v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]