Food insecurity and depressive symptoms of older adults living alone in South Korea

Bibliographic Data

ID11200633
AuthorsYoungmi Kim (0000-0001-6851-3791, Virginia Commonwealth University), Young‐mi Kim (0000-0001-5630-0297), AELY PARK (0000-0002-1580-6627, Ewha Womans University, corresponding author), Kyeongmo Kim (0000-0002-8457-8859, Virginia Commonwealth University)
Year2019
Volume39
Issue9
Pages2042-2058
Publication date2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAgeing and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0144686x18000429
OpenAlexW2800333068
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited25

In South Korea, the number of older adults living alone is rapidly increasing with the growth of the ageing population. Although there is some evidence of a link between financial strain and depression in this population, there is limited empirical evidence on the relationship between food insecurity and depression in older adults living alone despite the fact that they have a high prevalence of food insecurity and tend to seek food assistance. This study aims to investigate whether food insecurity explains depressive symptoms in Korean older adults living alone. We employed data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study collected from a large-scale national sample in South Korea. Our sample consisted of 815 older adults aged 65 or older who lived alone. Conducting ordinary least square regression analyses, we tested the main effect of food insecurity on depression and the interaction effect of food insecurity and low income. We found that the relationship between food insecurity and depressive symptoms differed by low-income status ( b = 6.27, p = 0.047). The association was significant only in the low-income group ( b = 1.37, p = 0.04). These findings suggest that protecting access to food may be a promising strategy to lessen depressive symptoms associated with financial strain among older adults living alone

Depression (economics) · Depressive symptoms · Environmental health · Food insecurity · Food security · Geography · Low income · Political science · Population · Psychiatry · Socioeconomics · Welfare · Demography · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Medicine · Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior · Psychology · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Gerontology

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