Rest Alone and Depressive Symptoms across Age groups : Focusing on Perceived Social Support and Voluntary/Involuntary Rest Alone

Abstract

Although rest can have positive effects on individuals’ physical and mental health through restorative action, scarcity of studies focuses on generational and socioeconomic differences in the degree and method of rest. Using the Rest and Health of Korean Society Survey, this study examines the association between rest alone, the most common method of rest, and depressive symptoms, and test the buffering effects of perceived social support and voluntary rest alone by generation. Results show that young adults who were voluntarily resting alone were more depressed than those who are resting with others, while the middle-aged and older adults who are involuntarily resting alone were more depressed than those resting with others. The moderating effect of perceived social support was confirmed only among young adults, in particular among those who involuntarily rest alone. Although resting alone is the most common and preferred method, negative effects are inevitable because of differences in the lack of resources across age groups. In addition, strong positive association between voluntary rest alone and depressive symptom among young adults also lead to speculate that young adults are more suffering from social exclusion than other age groups and thus use voluntary rest alone as their coping strategies.