As People Age, The Factors That Drive Depression May Shift

Depending on ones age and what personal issues they have going on in life depression can affect them differently. The study on this included a range of people from age eighteen all the way until ninety-three and found that while there are some similar issues that cause depression, some that are unique to individuals and some depending what stage the individual is at in their own life.

For example if an individual had a lower education, a limited social life or had recently experienced a tragedy in their life regardless of their age they were more likely to be depressed. However from there things differed; those that had a chronic illness and were younger in age were more likely to be depressed than someone who had the same illness, but had lived a lot more years.

Poor health both in physical and mental forms and caused more depression for the younger generation. Obesity and child abuse also led to depression.  Having a lower income became a bigger source for depression for those that were in their older years despite the fact that low income is more rife among the younger generations. All in all it seems that no one particular topic is guaranteed to cause depression in any age group it is just that some are more likely in certain age groups.

Key Points:

  • 1Life events that are uncommon among a person’s peer group are more likely to trigger depression.
  • 2Some risk factors are assumed to affect certain age groups the most, but this isn’t always true.
  • 3Health professionals should not assess depression risk factors based solely on a patient’s age.


A wide range of risk factors for depression is relevant across the entire life span
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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