The mental health of small-town rural elderly residents: an expanded ecological model

This study describes the development of an expanded ecological model of rural mental health and examines its efficacy for explaining the mental health status of 358 male and 631 female (aged 65 years or older) residents of 18 small Kansas communities. Utilizing standard structured interview data, a holdout sample strategy was used to test the impact of environmental (ecological/architectural, psychosocial), well-being (activity, security, housing satisfaction, social contact), and demographic dimensions upon composite mental health scores. Tests of the model for each sex showed that different sex-specific "causal" dynamics explained similar proportions of variation in mental health for both males and females (26.4, 27.4%, respectively). Overall, a less complex model of mental health is indicated for men than for women. The relevance of the model for conceptual, empirical, and interventive pursuits is discussed.