 Direct and indirect effects of chronic physical conditions on depression: A preliminary investigationRunar Vilhjalmsson Social Science & Medicine, 1998, vol. 47, issue 5, 603-611 Abstract: The study focuses on the relationship between chronic physical illness and depression in the general population. Based on a representative survey of 825 adult residents in the urban Reykjavik area of Iceland, the results suggest that chronic physical conditions affect depression directly, as well as indirectly by aggravating domestic, occupational, and economic strains, and by undermining personal resources (self-esteem and mastery). These relationships persisted when sociodemographic background and previous mental health status were controlled. A nonsignificant direct relationship between chronic physical conditions and social support suggests that chronic illness does not affect support independent of domestic and economic strains. Significant direct relationships between chronic physical illness and personal resources suggest that the experience of inescapable loss lowers self-esteem and the sense of mastery. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed. Keywords: depression; chronic; physical; illness; life-stress; social; support; self-esteem; mastery (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:47:y:1998:i:5:p:603-611 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
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