Negative life events, social support and mental health in elderly

The aims of the study are to examine 1) the impact of negative life events on the mental health in elderly, 2) the moderating role of social support and 3) the impact of age on these factors. 703 old people arc evaluated on negative life events, social support and depression. Multiple regression analysis indicates that the impact of the negative events and the social support on the depression is different according to the age. The moderating role of the social support is highlighted for the younger older. Meeting negative event, those which are very satisfied with their social support are less depressive. For the oldest old, the satisfaction or not of the social support does not modify the negative impact of the events of life on the depression. One interpretation of the rejection of the buffering hypothesis is that the very old do not use in an effective way their social network so, adaptative potentiel of the oldest-olds is raised.