Sponsor
Data collection for the Study of Older Korean Americans (SOKA, R01AG047106, PI: Yuri Jang, PhD) and the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE, R01AG042318, PI: XinQi Dong, MD) was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
Published In
PLoS ONE
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-8-2021
Subjects
Health promotion, Social service -- United States, Older Chinese Americans -- United States -- Self-rating of, Korean Americans -- United States -- Self-rating of, Depression in old age
Abstract
In the present study, we examined self-rated health as a mediator between physical health conditions (chronic diseases and functional disability) and depressive symptoms in older Chinese and Korean Americans. Using harmonized data (N = 5,063) from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE) and the Study of Older Korean Americans (SOKA), we tested direct and indirect effect models. In both groups, chronic diseases and functional disability were closely associated with negative ratings of health and symptoms of depression. Analyses with the PROCESS macro showed that the effect of chronic diseases and functional disability on depressive symptoms was mediated by self-rated health in both groups; the indirect effect was greater in the Korean American sample than in the Chinese American sample. These findings contribute to the understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underlie the mind–body connection and highlight the potential importance of subjective health assessment as a useful tool for health promotion.
Rights
© 2021 Jang et al.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0245136
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34899
Citation Details
Jang Y, Yoon H, Li M, Park NS, Chiriboga DA, Wu B, et al. (2021) Self-rated health as a mediator between physical health conditions and depressive symptoms in older Chinese and Korean Americans. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0245136.
Description
The data underlying the results presented in the study are available from the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (contact person: Stephanie Bergren, sbergren@ifh.rutgers.edu) under the Rutgers IRB's data sharing restriction policy on sensitive identifying information.