The Effect of Active Aging on Depression and Cognition in Old Age

The purpose of this study was to analyze how active aging affects depression and cognition in old age. For this purpose, the raw data from the 『2020 Survey on the Status of the Elderly』 were reanalyzed using descriptive statistics, t-Test, Pearson correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The main results were as follows : 1) The average depression score of the subjects was 3.37, the average cognition score was 24.32, and the average active aging score was 2.01. 2) The participating group in social activities had lower depression and higher cognitive function than the non-participating group. 3) As a result of hierarchical multiple regression analysis of depression, in Model 1, gender, education, health status, household income, and marital status were significant factors affecting depression, and the explanatory power of the model was 19.4%. In Model 2, gender, education, health status, household income, marital status, and active aging were significant factors of depression in old age, and the explanatory power of Model 2 was 19.8%, 0.4% more than Model 1. 4) In the hierarchical multiple regression analysis of cognition, age, education, health status, household income, and household type were significant factors affecting cognition in Model 1, and the explanatory power of the model was 17.4%. In Model 2, age, education, health status, household income, household type, and active aging were significant factors, and the explanatory power was 18.9%, 1.5% higher than Model 1. Based on the above results, several suggestions were added for elderly welfare policies and practices.