Gender Differences in Depression, Life Satisfaction, and Health in Middle-Aged Koreans

The data in this cross-sectional descriptive study were derived from the “2010 Survey for Health, Life condition, and Welfare Needs of Middle Aged Koreans” conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The health related characteristics included perceived health, alcohol drinking, nutrition, exercise, chronic disease, and climacteric syndrome. The participants were asked “Have you ever experienced sadness or helplessness affecting your life for 2 weeks or longer during the past 12 months?” to identify depression. Those who answered “yes” to the question were designated to the depressed group. Life satisfaction was measured using the 12 item Korean version (Rhee, Suh, Gho & Park, 1994) of Life Satisfaction Index A (Neugarten, Harvighurst, & Tobin, 1961). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 21.0 (SPSS, Chicago IL, USA). Chi-square tests were used to identify the differences in health related characteristics, depression, and life satisfaction by gender. T-test was used to compare life satisfaction by gender. The multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the significant predictors for depression in each gender.