TY - JOUR T1 - Older adults with poor self-rated memory have less depressive symptoms and better memory performance when perceived self-efficacy is high. JF - Int J Geriatr Psychiatry Y1 - 2016 A1 - O'Shea, Deirdre M A1 - Vonetta M Dotson A1 - Fieo, Robert A A1 - Tsapanou, Angeliki A1 - Laura B Zahodne A1 - Stern, Yaakov KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - depression KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Memory KW - Middle Aged KW - Regression Analysis KW - Self Efficacy KW - Surveys and Questionnaires AB -

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether self-efficacy moderates the association between self-rated memory and depressive symptoms in a large sample of older adults. The influence of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms on memory performance was also examined in a subsample of individuals who reported poor memory.

METHODS: Non-demented participants (nā€‰=ā€‰3766) were selected from the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Depressive symptomatology was assessed with the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. A modified version of the Midlife Developmental Inventory Questionnaire was used as the measure of self-efficacy. Participants were asked to rate their memory presently on a five-point scale from Excellent (1) to Poor (5). Immediate memory and delayed memory (after a 5-min interval) were measured by the number of correct words recalled from a 10-item word list.

RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses revealed that negative ratings of memory were significantly associated with greater levels of depressive symptoms, with this effect being greatest in those with low levels of self-efficacy. Additionally, greater self-efficacy was associated with optimal objective memory performances but only when depressive symptoms were low in individuals who reported poor memory function (nā€‰=ā€‰1196).

CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy moderates the relationship between self-rated memory function and depressive symptoms. Higher self-efficacy may buffer against the impact of subjective memory difficulty on one's mood and thereby mitigating the effect of depressive symptoms on memory. Interventions should focus on increasing perceived self-efficacy in older adults reporting poor memory function to potentially minimize memory impairment.

VL - 31 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26679474 IS - 7 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26679474?dopt=Abstract U4 - Depression Depressive symptoms Self-rated memory Memory Self-efficacy ER -