A Study On The Relationship Between Childhood Friendship And Old Age Depression ——Based On The Perspective Of Life Course Theory

With the deepening of the aging trend in China,the problems related to the elderly have received more and more attention,especially depression of the elderly,which has been continuously discussed in the academic circles.Depression of the elderly will not only harm the mental health of the elderly,but even further lead to cognitive impairment,dementia.What’s worse,it can affect their physical health and life safety.Therefore,the pathological,psychological or external factors of geriatric depression have always been the focus of geriatric depression research.However,most of studies are limited to the experience and conditions of the elderly in their old age,and few have conducted traceability studies.This study adopts the perspective of life course,based on the whole life stage of the elderly,to discuss the influence mechanism of childhood friendship on depression in the elderly.This study used data from CHARLS 2018 and 2014 life history survey,as well as the CES-D 10 scale to measure the level of depression in the elderly.According to the perspective of life course theory,the important influencing events in childhood（childhood friendship）are selected as independent variables;family negative experiences as mediating variables;childhood community experience and Hunger status as a moderating variable;the depression level of the elderly was used as a dependent variable to construct a mediating moderation model to discuss the influence mechanism of childhood friendship and depression in the elderly.At the same time,a regression analysis of family support in the old age was conducted to discuss whether family support in the old age can correct the influence of childhood friendship on depression in the elderly.Through empirical analysis,the following conclusions are drawn.First,Childhood friendships have a significant negative impact on depression in the elderly;family support in old age can significantly reduce the negative impact of unhealthy childhood friendships on the mental health of the elderly,supporting the conclusion of the "sensitive period model".Second,negative family experiences have a significant mediating effect on the influence of childhood friendships on elderly depression.Third,the quality of the community in which the elderly lived during childhood moderated the first half of the mediating pathway（childhood friendship→community quality → family negative experiences）.Finally,childhood hunger moderated the mediating pathway（childhood friendship → childhood hunger → family negative experiences;family negative experiences→ childhood hunger→ old age depression）.