Differential relations between depressive symptoms and everyday function in older adults using multiple modes of functional assessment

Among community dwelling older adults, depressive symptoms were associated with participant-reported and informant-reported everyday function, but not with performance-based tasks or cognitive abilities. The pattern of correlates suggests that depressive symptoms may affect function in everyday contexts by decreasing motivation to engage in daily activities without altering cognitive capacity to perform everyday tasks. Future research should investigate relations among specific depressive symptoms, such as apathy, and multiple measures of everyday function.