Determinants of Self-Reported Depressive Affect in Serbia: Results from a Nationally Representative Sample

Mentus, Vladimir (2021) Determinants of Self-Reported Depressive Affect in Serbia: Results from a Nationally Representative Sample. In: Empirical studies in psychology : proceedings of the XXVII scientific conference, May 13 – 16th, 2021, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Institute of Psychology, Laboratory for Experimental Psychology. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, pp. 94-96. ISBN 978-86-6427-198-1

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Abstract

Although depression is ranked as the single largest contributor to global disability and the major contributor to suicide deaths, with a globally rising prevalence, analyses of determinants of depression in Serbia on a nationally representative samples are scarce. Our aim is to fill this gap. We used a merged Serbian sample within the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) from 2012 and 2016, consisted of 2058 respondents. In EQLS, depressive affect is measured by respondent’s self-assessment of how much they felt downhearted and depressed during the previous two weeks. Answers are given on a six-point single-item scale. Our selected independent variables collectively explained about 38% of the variance in depressive affect. Perceived social exclusion is shown to be the most important determinant in our model. Subjective health, satisfaction with family life, and feeling worthwhile come next. Other significant determinants are attending religious services, being female, feeling free to decide how to live, being retired, and being widowed. Age, size of locality, having time to do the enjoyable things, being divorced, being unemployed, being unable to work due to illness or disability, satisfaction with standard of living, trust in people, and taking part in sports or physical exercise are shown to be not significant determinants.

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