The relationship between health-promoting lifestyles and depression in the elderly: roles of aging perceptions and social support

Purpose At present, it is not clear about the influence of health-promoting lifestyle, aging perceptions, social support, and other psychosocial factors on elderly depression. This study aims to explore the mediating role of aging perceptions between health-promoting lifestyle and elderly depression, and the moderating role of social support in the mediating process. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 359 elderly people in six districts of a city. The Chinese version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-IIR), the Brief Aging Perceptions Questionnaire (B-PQ), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-DR), and the Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS) were conducted and recollected on the spot. Stepwise analysis was used to test the mediating effect and moderating effect, and age and gender variables were controlled. Results The results showed the following: (1) health-promoting lifestyle is an important influencing factor of elderly depression; (2) aging perceptions plays a mediating role in the relationship between health-promoting lifestyle and elderly depression, accounting for 31.8% of the total utility; and (3) social support plays a moderating role between aging perceptions and elderly depression, with a high level of social support. The effect of aging perceptions on depression is less than that of the elderly with low social support level. Conclusion Health-promoting lifestyle influence the depression of elderly people through aging perceptions and social support moderates the influence of aging perceptions on the elderly depression.