Influentces of family and social support on mental health among elderly residents in Hebei province

Objective To examine the impacts of family and social support on mental health among urban and rural elderly people in Hebei province and to provide reference for the improvement of mental health and quality of life of the elderly.Methods A survey was carried out among 6 173 elderly people aged 60 years and older in Hebei province using a self-designed general demographic questionnaire,Family Assessment Device(FAD),Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS) and Symptom Checklist-90(SCL-90).Results Among the elderly,4 758(77.1%)had no psychological symptoms,1 257(20.4%) had mild psychological symptoms,and 154(2.5%)had moderate to severe psychological symptoms.Multivariate analyses showed that age(odds ratioOR=0.931),marital status(OR=1.107),education level(OR=0.921),whether having fixed income(OR=1.155),child care(OR=1.317),and social support(OR=0.794) were main influencing factors of mental health among the elderly residents(P<0.05).Conclusion Mental health of the elderly in Hebei province is not good and family and social support need to be improved to maintain the mental health among the elderly.