INTERPERSONAL RELATEDNESS AND SELF-DEFINITION IN LATE ADULTHOOD DEPRESSION: PERSONALITY PREDISPOSITIONS, AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS

Abstract

This study addresses depression in late adulthood within the context of Blatt's (1974; 1991) theory of development and vulnerabilities to depression. Participants were a sample of 237 Israeli community-dwelling old adults (age 65–75) in good health and functioning well. The authors assumed that in this developmental period, normally beset with questions about self-identity and interpersonal relatedness, the associations among Self-criticism, the Neediness component of dependency, and depressive symptomatology are moderated by participants' perceived social support as well as by their fear of death. As expected, the correlational results confirmed that depression in late adulthood is associated with Self-criticism, Neediness, fear of death, and low perceived social support. Additional results illustrated the protective role of Efficacy and Connectedness, as well as the buffering roles of social support and low fear of death in the relation between vulnerabilities to depression and depressive symptoms in late adulthood. The overall findings highlight the relevance of personality vulnerability factors in depression in late adulthood and the need to consider a range of moderating factors that may serve to protectively buffer or exacerbate the impact of personality vulnerability factors.