Table 1.
Characteristics of younger and older adults, entire sample (N = 12,908).
| Characteristic | Younger adults | Older adults | t or χ2 | Effect sizea | p -value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 33.40 (8.20) | 64.24 (4.27) | 50.25 | 8.16 | <0.001 |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 31% | 33% | 0.43 | 0.01 | 0.513 |
| Female | 69% | 67% | |||
| Education: | |||||
| No high school | 1 | 2% | 22.70 | 0.04 | <0.001 |
| High school diploma | 31% | 23% | |||
| Some college | 14% | 15% | |||
| College degree | 37% | 30% | |||
| Graduate degree | 17% | 30% | |||
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White/caucasian | 78% | 90% | 16.52 | 0.04 | 0.01 |
| Asian | 48% | 1% | |||
| Hispanic | 8% | 4% | |||
| Black/african american | 4% | 3% | |||
| Other | 6% | 2% | |||
| Employed | |||||
| Full time | 69% | 41% | 81.12 | 0.08 | <0.001 |
| Part time | 11% | 12% | |||
| Unemployed | 20% | 47% | |||
| Annual income | |||||
| <$30,000 | 30% | 14% | 48.60 | 0.06 | <0.001 |
| $30–60,000 | 31% | 27% | |||
| $60–100,000 | 21% | 22% | |||
| >$100,000 | 18% | 37% | |||
| Region of the country | |||||
| Midwest | 16% | 15% | 2.33 | 0.01 | 0.51 |
| Northeast | 19% | 16% | |||
| South | 38% | 39% | |||
| West | 27% | 30% | |||
| Prior episodes of depression | |||||
| None | 38% | 46% | 34.86 | 0.05 | <0.001 |
| One | 11% | 23% | |||
| More than one | 51% | 31% | |||
| Prior mental health Treatment | 11% | 33% | 21.17 | 0.27 | <0.001 |
| Number of chronic medical conditions | 0.57 (0.85) | 1.42 (1.36) | 12.72 | 0.86 | <0.001 |
| Baseline PHQ-9 | 18.17 (4.29) | 17.58 (4.25) | 1.79 | 4.29 | 0.074 |
| Baseline GAD-7 | 14.84 (4.58) | 12.88 (4.89) | 5.53 | 4.58 | <0.001 |
| Functional impact total | 9.70 (2.01) | 9.06 (2.58) | 4.10 | 2.02 | <0.001 |
| How long depressed | |||||
| <2 weeks | 1% | 2% | 9.43 | 0.03 | 0.06 |
| 2 weeks to 2 months | 12% | 13% | |||
| 2 months to 1 year | 27% | 35% | |||
| 1 to 2 years | 17% | 17% | |||
| More than 2 years | 43% | 33% | |||
| Primary non-mood symptom | |||||
| Sleep | 14% | 9% | 1.27 | 0.07 | 0.26 |
| Motivation/low energy | 40% | 31% | 2.63 | 0.09 | 0.11 |
| Agitation/irritability | 7% | 8% | 0.05 | 0.01 | 0.82 |
| Concentration | 3% | 6% | 0.73 | 0.05 | 0.39 |
| Current smoker | 10% | 10% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Current treatment | |||||
| Medication | 96% | 73% | 27.58 | 0.31 | <0.001 |
| Medication + therapy | 4% | 27% | |||
| Frequency of technology Use, 0–4 | |||||
| Seldom, never | 5% | 8% | 4.87 | 0.13 | 0.30 |
| Rarely | 25% | 16% | |||
| Few times/week | 25% | 28% | |||
| Once/day | 18% | 16% | |||
| Multiple times/day | 27% | 32% | |||
| Social media use, 0–4 | |||||
| Seldom, never | 16 | 21% | |||
| Rarely | 31% | 23% | |||
| Few times/week | 15% | 14% | |||
| Once/day | 32% | 28% | |||
| Multiple times/day | 6% | 13% | |||
a
Effect sizes are Cohen's d for continuous variables and Cramer's V for categorical variables. Effect sizes are interpreted as small (0.2), medium (0.5), and large (0.8). Cohen (37) Mean values are presented for continuous variables (with standard deviations in parentheses) and frequency counts are presented (with %) for categorical variables.