Linking Socioeconomic Status to Depressive Symptoms in Aging Populations

This study utilized longitudinal data from six cohorts covering individuals aged 50 and above across 21 countries, specifically HRS, CHARLS, SHARE, ELSA, MHAS, and KLoSA. All cohorts included key indicators such as depressive symptoms, childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES), frailty status, social activity, and family support. To ensure comparability across cohorts, the waves analyzed for each survey were as follows: HRS (waves 5-16), CHARLS (waves 1-5), SHARE (waves 4-9), ELSA (waves 3-10), MHAS (waves 3-6), and KLoSA (waves 1-9).