Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of the sample (n = 3968)
| Mean ± SD or %† | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable Socio-demographics | Women (n=2267) | Men (n=1701) | t or X2 | P-value |
| Age (yr), mean±SD * | 74.99(6.97) | 73.90(6.24) | 26.849 | .000 |
| 65-74 | 1,218(59.66) | 988(66.81) | ||
| 75-74 | 818(32.45) | 606(28.88) | ||
| 85+ | 231(7.89) | 107(4.31) | ||
| Marital status | 756.22 | .000 | ||
| Bereaved | 1,115(45.81) | 139(7.49) | ||
| Married | 1,152(54.19) | 1,562(92.51) | ||
| Education | 592.57 | .000 | ||
| ≤Elementary school | 1,878(81.22) | 818(45.47) | ||
| Middle school | 205(9.92) | 280(16.87) | ||
| High school | 150(7.15) | 406(25.86) | ||
| College or above | 34(1.71) | 197(11.80) | ||
| Monthly household income | 34.47 | .000 | ||
| 1 quartile (lowest) | 637(28.46) | 349(18.45) | ||
| 2 quartile | 556(25.09) | 427(24.24) | ||
| 3 quartile | 535(24.34) | 479(28.59) | ||
| 4 quartile | 511(22.11) | 437(28.72). | ||
| Employed | ||||
| No | 1,880(81.31) | 1,064(59.31) | ||
| Yes | 387(18.69) | 637(40.69) | ||
| Cohabitation with adult children | 40.31 | .000 | ||
| No | 1,049(63.39) | 1,221(71.14) | ||
| Yes | 858(36.61) | 480(28.86) | ||
| Residential area | 0.10 | .751 | ||
| Rural | 701(32.58) | 534(30.69) | ||
| Urban | 1,566(67.42) | 1,167(69.31) | ||
| Health related variables | ||||
| Number of chronic disease | 92.38 | .000 | ||
| None | 499(22.25) | 582(35.13) | ||
| 1 | 757(33.49) | 574(33.42) | ||
| 2+ | 1,01(44.26) | 544(31.45) | ||
| Activity of daily living | 1.69 | .193 | ||
| Independent | 2,089(93.21) | 1,586(94.13) | ||
| Dependent | 178(6.79) | 115(5.87) | ||
| Instrumental Activity of daily Living | 2.08 | .149 | ||
| Independent | 1,864(83.93) | 1,368(80702) | ||
| Dependent | 403(16.02) | 333(19.30) | ||
| Self-rated health | 139.99 | .000 | ||
| Poor | 1.116(46.89) | 592(33.31) | ||
| Fair | 285(12.88) | 438(27.25) | ||
| Good | 866(38.22) | 671(39.45) | ||
| BMI | 33.74 | .000 | ||
| Normal | 1,609(73.62) | 1,358(81.76) | ||
| Overweight | 509(24.48) | 285(17.64) | ||
| Obese | 40(1.90) | 12(.60) | ||
| MMSE* | 19.43(7.59) | 22.18(7.23) | 134.357 | .000 |
| Social activities | ||||
| Formal social activity | ||||
| Level of participation in church or other religious groups, mean±SD | 1.83±3.36 | 1.09±2.72 | -7.41 | .000 |
| Level of participation in alumni society or family councils, mean±SD | 0.16±0.99 | 0.83±1.97 | 13.94 | .000 |
| Level of participation in volunteer groups, mean±SD | 0.04±0.54 | 0.05±0.61 | 0.86 | .391 |
| Level of participation in political or interest groups, mean±SD | 0.00±0.19 | 0.03±0.41 | 2.69 | .009 |
| Informal social activity | ||||
| Level of face to face contact with close friends, mean±SD | 7.54± 2.76 | 7.30± 2.70 | 2.61 | .009 |
| Level of contact by phone or letter with children, mean±SD | 7.18± 1.41 | 7.29± 1.38 | -2.47 | .014 |
| Level of face to face contact with adult children, mean±SD | 5.05± 1.45 | 5.26± 1.48 | -4.53 | .000 |
| Depressive symptoms | ||||
| CES-D score, mean±SD | 9.24± 6.09 | 7.85± 5.75 | 7.30 | .000 |
| Percent of depression (CSE-D≥10) | 436(18.68) | 202(10.89) | 38.98 | .000 |
†%: Percent of the weighted population/ * Because of violation of homoscedasticity, the authors test the null hypothesis with fstar test.