The effects of social support, life events, and demographic factors on depression among Maori and Europeans in New Zealand rural, town, and urban environments

Little empirical research has been done in New Zealand into factors associated with depression. In all reviewed studies of depression conducted in the United States, towns have not been examined separately from rural districts and cities. A sample of 342 New Zealand adolescents and adults completed a questionnaire constructed by Bell, LeRoy, and Stephenson (1982) to measure depression, social support, stressful life events, and demographic factors. A three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated significant interaction effects of ethnicity and recent life events on depression, but social support did not significantly affect depression nor interact with life events to a meliorate the effects of life events on depression. Maori experiencing few life events had higher depression than Europeans with few events. A five-way ANOVA with the effects of area, sex, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status (SES) on depression showed significant main effects for sex, age, and SES. Area interacted significantly with ethnicity and age. Compared to similar groups in the rural district and the city, Maori and young people in town had significantly higher mean depression scores. Maori reported significantly more depressive symptoms and stressful life events than Europeans in the town but not in the rural or urban environments. Young adults had the highest mean depression score, and the oldest group the lowest, both in the rural area. Results are discussed with reference to the rural, town, and urban environments in New Zealand, and to possible reasons for the weakness of the effect of social support on depression. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.