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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access published online on January 29, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbn024
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Sibling Death and Death Fear in Relation to Depressive Symptomatology in Older Adults

Victor G. Cicirelli

Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Address correspondence to Victor G. Cicirelli, PhD, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, 703 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2004. Email: victor{at}psych.purdue.edu


  Abstract

Previously overlooked factors in elders’ depressive symptomatology were examined, including death fear, sibling death, and sibling closeness. Participants were 150 elders (61 men, 89 women) aged 65–97 years with at least one sibling. Measures were proportion of deceased siblings, sibling closeness, the Death Fear Subscale of the Death Attitude Profile–Revised, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression scale (20-item adult form). Age and education were exogenous variables in a structural equation model. Death fear, sibling closeness, and proportion of dead siblings were directly related to depression, with path coefficients of .42, –.24, and .13, respectively. Proportion of dead siblings had indirect effects on depression, as did age and education. Depressive symptomatology in old age is influenced by death fear related to sibling death as well as by poor relationships with them; it must be understood within a situational context including death fear and sibling relationships.

Key Words: Death fear • Depressive symptomatology • Sibling closeness • Sibling death

Received December 31, 2007; Accepted June 27, 2008

Decision Editor: Rosemary Blieszner, PhD


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