Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of the participants across trajectories of depressive symptoms.
| Depressive symptoms | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1: Consistently low depressive symptoms | Class 2: Decreasing depressive symptoms | Class 3: Only the woman has depressive symptoms | Class 4: Increasing depressive symptoms | η2/V | |
| Demographic variables | |||||
| Age, men, (M, SD) | 61.86 (8.18) | 63.82 (9.01) | 62.79 (8.92) | 64.81 (9.01) | 0.012** |
| Age, women, (M, SD) | 58.82 (8.40) | 60.18 (9.21) | 59.92 (9.14) | 61.33 (9.31) | 0.008** |
| Western Europe, N (%) | 3496 (40.82) | 267 (33.42) | 309 (34.33) | 307 (35.21) | 0.056** |
| Southern Europe, N (%) | 1823 (21.28) | 207 (25.91) | 306 (34.00) | 272 (31.19) | 0.099** |
| Scandinavia, N (%) | 1086 (12.68) | 39 (4.88) | 51 (5.67) | 63 (7.22) | 0.091** |
| Central and Eastern Europe, N (%) | 1825 (21.31) | 238 (29.79) | 200 (22.22) | 185 (21.22) | 0.053** |
| Israel, N (%) | 335 (3.91) | 48 (6.01) | 34 (3.78) | 45 (5.16) | 0.031* |
| Education men, (M, SD) | 3.01 (1.44) | 2.49 (1.47) | 2.43 (1.44) | 2.53 (1.51) | 0.023** |
| Education, women, (M, SD) | 2.85 (1.43) | 2.46 (1.51) | 2.21 (1.43) | 2.43 (1.47) | 0.021** |
| Childhood SEP, men, (M, SD) | 0.08 (1.59) | −0.45 (1.50) | −0.45 (1.42) | −0.39 (1.51) | 0.018** |
| Childhood SEP, women, (M, SD) | 0.15 (1.61) | −0.4 (1.57) | −0.41 (1.59) | −0.27 (1.72) | 0.018** |
| N children, women, (M, SD) | 2.36 (1.25) | 2.59 (1.55) | 2.48 (1.56) | 2.44 (1.40) | 0.003** |
| N grandchildren, women, (M, SD) | 3.35 (3.24) | 3.98 (3.55) | 3.72 (3.63) | 3.9 (3.66) | 0.005** |
| Area of living, men, (M, SD) | 3.51 (1.4) | 3.54 (1.41) | 3.57 (1.37) | 3.45 (1.37) | <0.001 |
| Area of living, women, (M, SD) | 3.56 (1.4) | 3.55 (1.41) | 3.60 (1.41) | 3.52 (1.42) | <0.001 |
| Health variables | |||||
| Well-being, men, (M, SD) | 38.96 (5.27) | 31.82 (5.94) | 36.14 (5.48) | 35.12 (5.72) | 0.131** |
| Well-being, women, (M, SD) | 38.76 (5.35) | 34.31 (6.19) | 31.54 (6.35) | 35.50 (6.07) | 0.142** |
| Limitations of IADL, men, (M, SD) | 0.08 (0.41) | 0.47 (1.07) | 0.14 (0.56) | 0.25 (0.74) | 0.04** |
| Limitations of IADL, women, (M, SD) | 0.12 (0.47) | 0.30 (0.73) | 0.56 (1.08) | 0.28 (0.74) | 0.044** |
| N chronic diseases, men, (M, SD) | 1.31 (1.26) | 2.53 (1.80) | 1.62 (1.47) | 1.93 (1.49) | 0.062** |
| N chronic diseases, women, (M, SD) | 1.28 (1.28) | 1.88 (1.59) | 2.39 (1.66) | 1.73 (1.53) | 0.058** |
| Drugs for depression, men, N (%) | 461 (5.38) | 241 (30.16) | 66 (7.33) | 213 (24.43) | 0.276** |
| Drugs for depression, women, N (%) | 983 (11.48) | 190 (23.78) | 441 (49.00) | 193 (22.13) | 0.286** |
| Personality (Big Five) factors | |||||
| Extraversion, men, (M, SD) | 3.46 (0.91) | 3.26 (0.97) | 3.41 (0.91) | 3.24 (0.92) | 0.006** |
| Extraversion, women, (M, SD) | 3.55 (0.91) | 3.47 (0.91) | 3.32 (0.94) | 3.50 (0.94) | 0.005** |
| Agreeableness, men, (M, SD) | 3.66 (0.81) | 3.51 (0.87) | 3.67 (0.83) | 3.44 (0.87) | 0.006** |
| Agreeableness, women, (M, SD) | 3.75 (0.79) | 3.64 (0.85) | 3.62 (0.86) | 3.66 (0.80) | 0.003** |
| Conscientiousness, men, (M, SD) | 4.10 (0.79) | 3.96 (0.85) | 4.08 (0.77) | 3.85 (0.86) | 0.008** |
| Conscientiousness, women, (M, SD) | 4.18 (0.75) | 4.07 (0.79) | 3.99 (0.81) | 4.04 (0.85) | 0.007** |
| Neuroticism, men, (M, SD) | 2.44 (0.94) | 3.04 (0.97) | 2.48 (0.94) | 3.09 (0.98) | 0.047** |
| Neuroticism, women, (M, SD) | 2.73 (1.02) | 3.01 (1.01) | 3.42 (1.00) | 2.90 (1.05) | 0.034** |
| Openness, men, (M, SD) | 3.24 (0.93) | 3.21 (0.97) | 3.17 (0.92) | 3.07 (1.01) | 0.002** |
| Openness, women, (M, SD) | 3.36 (0.95) | 3.29 (0.96) | 3.24 (0.98) | 3.23 (0.95) | 0.002** |
| Bereavement | |||||
| Death of man, N (%) | 404 (4.72) | 113 (14.14) | 97 (10.78) | 138 (15.83) | 0.154** |
| Death of woman, N (%) | 187 (2.18) | 28 (3.50) | 50 (5.56) | 56 (6.42) | 0.084** |
| Break-up, N (%) | 170 (1.98) | 22 (2.75) | 33 (3.67) | 37 (4.24) | 0.048** |
Effect sizes were expressed in eta-squared when comparing continuous variables and in Cramer’s V when comparing binary variables.
M mean, SD standard deviation, SEP socioeconomic position, IADL instrumental activity of daily living.
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.001.