Table 1.

Description of respondents’ characteristics

	Respondents (N=2413)
Age in years (mean±SD)	68.9±5.9 (range 57–84)
Ethnicity n (%)
White	2376 (98.7)
Black	11 (0.5)
Asian	7 (0.3)
Other	14 (0.6)
Unknown	5 (0.2)
Education n (%)
Higher (university, professional)	819 (33.9)
Some (O’ level, A’ level, clerical)	955 (39.6)
None	610 (25.3)
Unknown	29 (1.2)
Hopelessness (mean±SD)
Brief-H-Neg	4.42±2.21 (n=2402)
Brief-H-Pos	4.74±1.85 (n=2393)
BHS	4.81±4.49 (n=2400)
Depression (mean±SD)
CES-D	12.44±10.39 (n=2395)

BHS, Beck Hopelessness Scale; CES-D, Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.