The relationship between chronic stress, emotion regulation and depressive symptoms in healthy older adults

The current study examined the association between chronic stress (measured in allostatic load or AL), ER, and depressive symptoms in a group of community-dwelling older adults. It was hypothesized that chronic stress levels would mediate the relationship between ER and depressive symptoms. A total of 70 older adults aged 60 and older participated in the study. There were no significant associations found in the main analyses between the AL index and depressive symptoms, as well as no significant relationship was found between ER strategies and AL index, after controlling for age, sex, education, and perceived SES. However, perceived stress significantly mediated the relationship between maladaptive ER strategies and depressive symptoms, and the relationship between adaptive ER strategies and depressive symptoms. Given the small sample size and the lack of variability of the AL index, the study would benefit from a larger sample size to clarify the present results.