Direct and Indirect Impact of Effects on Anxiety and Depression in Elderly: The Mediating Role of Difficulty in Emotion Regulation

Anxiety and depression are mostly manifested as comorbid disorders in elderly and are associated with negative consequences in elderly people’s physical and mental health and also poorer response to medicinal and psychological treatments. The present study was planned and implemented in order to investigate structural model of positive and negative affects with anxiety and depression in elderly mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation.
The current research was correlational. 173 elderly people were selected by using convenience sampling method among the elderly population in Minoudasht city. The participants of this study completed Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Anxiety and Depression Scale. Path analysis was used to test the pattern of direct and indirect impacts.
Findings of current study indicated that the data has good fitness with model. The direct impact of positive affect on depression and direct impact of negative affect on depression were significant. Indirect impact of positive affect on anxiety and depression through emotion regulation difficulty was significant. Also, indirect effect of negative affect on anxiety and depression through emotion regulation difficulty was significant. The direct impact of negative affect on depression was not significant. Moreover, findings demonstrate that direct impact of positive affect on depression is stronger than other variable. Finally, 57% of depression variance and 53% of anxiety variance in this model are explained by emotion regulation difficulty, positive affect and negative affect. Positive affect, negative affect and emotion regulation difficulty can significantly predict anxiety and depression among elderly.
Affective style and emotion regulation difficulty should be considered in therapeutic interventions or prevention of anxiety and depression in elderly. Theoretical implications of findings have been discussed.