Investigating the relationship between aging perception with stress, anxiety and depression in the elderly members of the Tehran's social security retirees in 2020

Regarding the high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress, as well-known complications of aging, understanding the factors associated with these problems is very important. The aging perception is proposed as a factor- that can play a role in the mental health of the elderly. The aim of this study was investigating the relationship between aging perception with stress, anxiety and depression in the elderly members of the Tehran's social security retirees in 2020.

The present study was a cross-sectional correlational study in which 300 elderly people referring to the Tehran's social security retirees were participated. Data were collected online using demographic information questionnaire, abbreviated psychological status questionnaire (AMT), abbreviated the understanding aging (BAPQ) and stress, depression and anxiety questionnaire (DASS 21) and analysed with SPSS 21 software.

In this study, 69.3% of the elderly were female and 30.7% were male. The mean score of aging perception was 55.01 ± 97.7 which shows the average level of aging perception. The highest mean of aging perception was related to the dimension of negative control (13.28 ±22.117) and the lowest mean was related to the dimension of emotional reactions (7.51 ±10.826). The mean scores of stress was 13.9 ± 19.282, depression (12.55 ± 20.168) and anxiety (11.32 ± 17.09) which shows that the elderly experienced high levels of stress, depression and anxiety. The perception of aging was significantly associated with depression, anxiety and stress in the elderly (p= 0.001).

According to this study, the higher perception of aging is related with higher incidence of depression, anxiety and stress, so the perception of aging can be considered as a predictor of depression, anxiety and stress in the elderly. However, the difference between the results of this study and other existing data reveals a need for more and deeper assessment in this field to clarify the various dimensions of this relationship.