空巢类型和社会支持对老人心理健康的影响

The Effect of Empty Nest Type and Social Support on Elderly People’s Mental Health

摘要: 目的：探讨空巢类型和社会支持对老人心理健康的影响，为完善老年人心理健康服务提供客观依据。方法：采用社会支持评定量、总体幸福感量表、症状自评量表(简称SCL-90)作为测量工具，随机选取北京市多个社区空巢老人263人、非空巢老人278人作为对象进行研究。结果：1) 在总体幸福感量表中的精力、忧郁或愉快的心境等维度上，非空巢老人的得分要显著高于空巢老人(p < 0.01)；在症状自评量表中躯体化、强迫症状、人际关系敏感、焦虑、敌对、恐怖、偏执、精神病性、总分等方面，非空巢老人的得分要显著高于空巢老人(p < 0.05或p < 0.01)。2) 除了“对健康的担心”维度，社会支持较低的老人其幸福感得分显著低于中等社会支持的老人(p < 0.05)、而中等社会支持的老人要显著低于社会支持较高的老人(p < 0.05)；而症状自评量表呈现出相反的结果，社会支持较低的老人要显著高于中等社会支持的老人(p < 0.05)，而中等社会支持的要显著高于社会支持较高的老人(p < 0.05)。3) 在总体幸福感量表的精力、忧郁或愉快的心境、对情感和行为的控制、幸福感总分等方面，空巢类型和社会支持对老人心理健康的交互作用达到了显著或边缘显著水平(p < 0.05，p < 0.01，或p = 0.060)；除了强迫症状边缘显著之外(p = 0.057)，在症状自评量表的各维度及总分上交互作用不显著。结论：1) 空巢类型对老人心理健康的不同层面有不同的影响。非空巢老人在拥有更多积极情绪的同时，负性情绪也相对更多；而空巢老人没有感到更多的幸福，也没有更多的心理症状；2) 社会支持对老人心理健康存在着显著的影响。社会支持水平越高，老人越感到幸福、心理症状越少、程度越轻。3) 空巢类型和社会支持在老人心理健康的某些方面存在着交互作用，一定的社会支持对于空巢老人幸福感提升来说有着更为积极的意义。

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of empty nest type and social support on the mental health of the elderly, in order to provide ideas for improvement of elderly people’s mental health services. Methods: The study applied Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), General Well-Being Schedule (GWB) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) as measurement tools, and randomly selected 263 empty nesters and 278 non-empty nesters from Beijing multiple communities as participants. Results: 1) In the dimensions of Energy, Mood of Depression or Pleasant from GWB, non-empty nesters’ scores were significantly higher than empty nesters’ (p < 0.01); in the aspects of Somatization, Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobia, Paranoid, Psychotic and total scores from SCL-90, non-empty nesters’ scores were significantly higher than empty nesters’ (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). 2) Except for the dimension of Health Concerns, happiness scores of the elderly with low social support were significantly lower than those with moderate social support (p < 0.05), and those with moderate social support were significantly lower than those with high social support (p < 0.05); while SCL-90 shows the opposite result: those with low social support were significantly higher than those with moderate social support (p < 0.05), and those with moderate social support were significantly higher than those with high social support (p < 0.05). 3) In the aspects of Energy, Mood of Depression or Pleasant, Emotional and Behavioral Control and total scores from GWB, the interactions of empty nest type and social support on the elderly’s mental health reached significant or marginally significant levels (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, or p = 0.060), while in various dimensions and total scores from SCL-90 except for the dimension of Obsessive-Compul- sive (p = 0.057), the interactions were not significant. Conclusions: 1) There are different effects of empty nest type on the elderly’s mental health with different aspects. Non-empty nesters have more positive emotions, at the same time, negative emotions are relatively more; while empty nesters do not have more happiness or more psychological symptoms; 2) The effect of social support on the elderly’s mental health is significant. The higher the level of social support is, more happiness and lighter psychological symptoms the elderly have; 3) There are interactions of empty nest type and social support on some aspects of the elderly’s mental health. To enhance happiness of empty nesters, certain social support has more positive meaning.