Frequency of self-reinforcement, perceived control, and depression in Asian and Caucasian community-dwelling elders

Abstract

This study was concerned with the extent to which behavioral competencies of self-reinforcement and perceived control covary or predict depression concurrently and at a later point in time. It was also concerned with whether there are significant differences between Asian American and Caucasian American elders in terms of depression, frequency of self-reinforcement, and perceived control. The study found no significant differences between Asian American and Caucasian American elders in depression mean scores. The results showed that a lower frequency of self-reinforcement was significantly associated with a higher level of depression concurrently and five months later for both Asian and Caucasian participants. Asian elders reported significantly lower self-reinforcement scores than Caucasian elders. In contrast, low perceived control was significantly associated with higher level of depression concurrently and five months later for Caucasian elders only. Asian elders reported significantly lower perceived control scores than Caucasian elders. The role of behavioral competencies in accounting for concurrent and future depression scores and the ethnic subsample differences in self-reinforcement and perceived control scores are discussed.