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Right Tail of the Distribution of Depressive Symptoms Is Stable and Follows an Exponential Curve during Middle Adulthood

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  • Shinichiro Tomitaka
  • Yohei Kawasaki
  • Toshiaki Furukawa

Abstract

Background: Previous research has reported that the mean of depressive symptoms is stable in the general population through middle adulthood. To understand the stability of depressive symptoms during middle adulthood, we investigated the nature of the distribution of depressive symptoms. Methods: We analyzed 24,890 subjects aged 15 to 84 years who participated in the Active Survey of Health and Welfare, Japan. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The descriptive statistics and frequency curves of the distributions were then compared according to age group. Results: The distribution of depressive symptoms was stable through middle adulthood. The right tail which covers clinical depression was more stable than the left tail or peak of the distributions. The right tail of the distribution during middle adulthood exhibited a linear pattern with a log-normal scale. Conclusions: The right tail of the distribution of depressive symptoms is stable and exhibits an exponential pattern during middle adulthood.

Suggested Citation

  • Shinichiro Tomitaka & Yohei Kawasaki & Toshiaki Furukawa, 2015. "Right Tail of the Distribution of Depressive Symptoms Is Stable and Follows an Exponential Curve during Middle Adulthood," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0114624
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114624
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    Cited by:

    1. Shinichiro Tomitaka & Yohei Kawasaki & Kazuki Ide & Hiroshi Yamada & Hirotsugu Miyake & Toshiaki A Furukaw, 2016. "Distribution of Total Depressive Symptoms Scores and Each Depressive Symptom Item in a Sample of Japanese Employees," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, January.
    2. Shinichiro Tomitaka & Yohei Kawasaki & Kazuki Ide & Maiko Akutagawa & Hiroshi Yamada & Toshiaki A Furukawa & Yutaka Ono, 2016. "Relationship between Item Responses of Negative Affect Items and the Distribution of the Sum of the Item Scores in the General Population," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Steven P. Reise & Han Du & Emily F. Wong & Anne S. Hubbard & Mark G. Haviland, 2021. "Matching IRT Models to Patient-Reported Outcomes Constructs: The Graded Response and Log-Logistic Models for Scaling Depression," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(3), pages 800-824, September.

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