Purpose: Although previous studies have found chronic illness and disability to be significant risk factors for depression, more research is needed to examine if older and younger age groups are equally likely to self-report depressive symptoms when faced with the same degree of health problems. The specific purpose of this study was to test whether age had moderating effect on the positive relationship between health conditions and self-reported depressive symptoms or it had independent effect on depressive symptoms.

Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis: Possible age group difference in depressive symptoms among people with similar degree of health problems can be conceptualized through the social comparison theory. Disabled older adults who are in their 80's may not feel as depressed about their health status because they tend to compare themselves to their peers who are also likely to be disabled. On the other hand, disabled older adults who are in their 50's may feel more depressed about their health status because they may see themselves as worse off than their peers most of whom are still free of disability. The likelihood that people in advanced age groups with serious health conditions may still feel less depressed than their younger counterparts can also be supported by a theory of positive aging process and adaptation or an increasing tendency to become more optimistic with age as far as health status is concerned.

Methods: Data for this study came from the 2000 interview wave of the Health and Retirement Study with a sample size of 3,028 participants aged 55 years and older with at least one ADL or IADL limitation. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) scale. Gender-separate 2-step hierarchical binary logistic regression analysis examined the significance of the effect of the age group variable (55-64 years; 65-74 years; 75-84 years, and 85 years and older) on the likelihood of self-reported depressive symptoms, defined as 3 points or higher on the 8-point scale, after controlling for health status and sociodemographics.

Results: As hypothesized, the youngest group, respondents between ages 55 and 64 years, had a higher rate of depression than the other three older groups. The oldest group, respondents aged 85 years and older, was 61% (women) and 57% (men) less likely to be depressed when compared to the youngest group. The respondents between ages 84 and 75 years were 54% (women) and 42% (men) less likely to be depressed compared to the youngest group. The respondents aged 74 and 65 years were 34% (women) and 37% (men) less likely to be depressed than the youngest group. The results also showed that age had strong independent rather than moderating effect on depressive symptoms.

Implications: The findings from this study help doctors, social workers, and other health and social service providers better understand the relationships among age, health status, and depressive symptoms. It is recommended that they pay special attention to younger older adults with health problems and functional limitations because they have a higher risk of being depressed.