Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms of Aging Chinese in Urban Jiangsu in China

Gender differences in depressive symptoms among older Chinese were examined based upon data collected from a survey with 497 randomly selected aging Chinese of 60 years or older in Jiangsu, China. A Chinese version of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale was used. Depressive symptoms correlated with lower levels of education, financial inadequacy, lower levels of satisfaction toward housing, higher levels of worry, and poorer physical health. When controlled for other confounding factors, the effect of gender was not significant. Gender differences were most likely attributed to women's less favorable status in education level, living arrangement, housing condition, and social support.