Lifestyle Behaviours and Mental Health Outcome of Elderly: Modification of Socioeconomic and Physical Health Effects

Balram Paswan
Pravat Bhandari, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

The lifestyle behaviours of the individual and its mediating relationships between socio-economic characteristics and physical health effects have been widely discussed in epidemiological studies. Considering a proper study framework, the relationship between lifestyle and mental health has not been rigorously established. This study is designed in an attempt to understand the direct and moderated effects of lifestyle behaviours on the mental health outcome of elderly in more systematic pathway. Using advanced statistical methods and data from United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) elderly survey namely Building Knowledge Base on Ageing in India (BKPAI), I measure the prevalence of anxiety and depression among the elderly. Besides this, the hypothetical framework of the study has been statistically established using two separate path model. The moderating effect of lifestyle behaviours on mental health outcome suggesting that modification of lifestyle may lead to reducing the psychological stress among elderly further promotes active and healthy ageing.

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 Presented in Session 6. Health & Mortality & Aging