Abstract

ZAMORA-INIESTA, Tomás et al. Self-perceived and reported mental health in older adults. Anal. Psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.38, n.1, pp.55-62.  Epub June 13, 2022. ISSN 1695-2294.  https://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.479721.

Several studies assess mental health in older adults, but relatively few do so from a multi-informant perspective. In this work, discrepancies in self-perception and third-person perception of the mental health of older adults were analyzed in two age groups and differentiated by sex and place of residence. Relationships between different scales that measure psychopathology and psychosocial competencies were also analyzed.

A sample of 288 older people aged between 60-95 years old (154 women, 53.47%) belonging to 12 municipalities in the Region of Murcia was employed, and the Older Adult Self-Report (OASR) questionnaire was used to measure the psychopathology of older people and the Older Adult Behavior Checklist (OABCL) instrument to find out the family's perception of these problems.

Outcomes show different perceptions of mental health among older people and their families, which worsen with increasing age, psychosocial risk status and female gender. This reflects the need to develop specific treatment protocols for each gender and psychosocial risk situation, in order to address the differential mental health needs in older people.

Keywords : Mental Health; Elderly; OASR; OABCL; Gender.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )