Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women's Health Initiative

Lisa A UEBELACKER; Charles B EATON; Risa WEISBERG; Megan SANDS; Carla WILLIAMS; Darren CALHOUN; Joann E MANSON; Natalie L DENBURG; Teletia TAYLOR

doi:10.1007/s00127-013-0693-z

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Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women's Health Initiative

Journal article

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Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women's Health Initiative

Lisa A UEBELACKER, Charles B EATON, Risa WEISBERG, Megan SANDS, Carla WILLIAMS, Darren CALHOUN, Joann E MANSON, Natalie L DENBURG and Teletia TAYLOR

Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, Vol.48(12), pp.1971-1982

2013

DOI: 10.1007/s00127-013-0693-z

PMCID: PMC3796164

PMID: 23644722

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3796164View

Open Access

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether social support and/or physical activity buffer the association between stressors and increasing risk of depression symptoms at baseline and at 3-year follow-up. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. 91,912 community-dwelling post-menopausal women participated in this prospective cohort study. Depression symptoms were measured at baseline and 3 years later; social support, physical activity, and stressors were measured at baseline. Results: Stressors at baseline, including verbal abuse, physical abuse, caregiving, social strain, negative life events, financial stress, low income, acute pain, and a greater number of chronic medical conditions, were all associated with higher levels of depression symptoms at baseline and new onset elevated symptoms at 3-year follow-up. Social support and physical activity were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Contrary to expectation, more social support at baseline strengthened the association between concurrent depression and physical abuse, social strain, caregiving, and low income. Similarly, more social support at baseline increased the association between financial stress, income, and pain on new onset depression 3 years later. Physical activity similarly moderated the effect of caregiving, income, and pain on depression symptoms at baseline. Conclusion: Stressors, social support, and physical activity showed predicted main effect associations with depression. Multiplicative interactions were small in magnitude and in the opposite direction of what was expected.

Miscellaneous

Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry

Adult and adolescent clinical studies

Psychopathology. Psychiatry

Mood disorders

Biological and medical sciences

Depression

Medical sciences

Details

Title: Subtitle: Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women's Health Initiative
Creators: Lisa A UEBELACKER - Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and Brown University, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, United States
Charles B EATON - Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and Brown University, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, United States
Risa WEISBERG - Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Program for Anxiety Research, Behavioral Health Research, Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Pawtucket, United States
Megan SANDS - Clinical Epidemiology, Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States
Carla WILLIAMS - Howard University Cancer Center, Washington, DC, United States
Darren CALHOUN - Phoenix Field Office, MedStar Research Institute, Phoenix, United States
Joann E MANSON - Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
Natalie L DENBURG - Department of Neuroscience, The University of Iowa, University Heights, United States
Teletia TAYLOR - Howard University Cancer Center, Washington, DC, United States
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, Vol.48(12), pp.1971-1982
DOI: 10.1007/s00127-013-0693-z
PMID: 23644722
PMCID: PMC3796164
NLM abbreviation: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
ISSN: 0933-7954
eISSN: 1433-9285
Publisher: Springer; Heidelberg
Language: English
Date published: 2013
Academic Unit: Neurology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984020867202771

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