Understanding changes in mental health symptoms from young-old to old-old adults by sex using multiple-group latent transition analysis.

Older adults are classified into three homogeneous groups: young-old (age 65-74), old-old (age 75-84), and oldest-old (age 85 and over). Mental health symptoms are likely to change over time, especially when older adults transition from one age group to another. Yet, little is known on changes in mental health symptoms as they transition to another age group, and if these changes differ by sex. This is a secondary data analysis using the longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. A total of 1183 young-old adults at wave 1 was included. Mental health symptoms were depression, anxiety, loneliness, perceived stress, and happiness. Multiple-group latent transition analysis was conducted to model the transition probabilities of latent classes and to compare these differences between sex. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to obtain demographic characteristics and to test for differences. Three latent classes were identified based on severity: class 1-mild, class 2-moderate, and class 3-severe. Regardless of sex, young-old adults remained in the same class from waves 1 to 2. However, they moved to a less severe group when transitioning into the old-old from waves 2 to 3. Statistically significant differences were found in their demographic characteristics among the latent classes. Older adults, when transitioning from young-old to old-old, are likely to transition to latent classes with less severe mental health symptoms in both sex. Clinicians need to provide a comprehensive assessment to all older adults, regardless of the severity of their mental health symptoms, to promote well-being.