Abstract

This paper examined psychological factors as predictor of mental health challenges among the aged in south-west Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Two hundred and twenty five 225 old people participated as respondents. Purposive sampling method was adopted to select respondents from Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States. A self-developed and validated questionnaire tagged QPFPMHC with a reliability co-efficient of 0.73 was used as instrument for data collection. Administration was done with the help of four 6 research assistants. Data was analysed using frequency count, percentages, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between psychological factors and mental health challenges in the elderly (r = .176, N= 225). It was also deduced that there was a significant relationship between sociological factors and mental health challenges among the elderly (r = .474, N= 225). A co-efficient of multiple correlation R = 0.251 and a multiple R2 of 0.063 was obtained. It implied that the joint contribution of the independent variables was significant on the dependent variable. The study concluded that mental health challenges in the elderly are of sociological and psychological origin. Early detection of challenging mental behavioural and psychosocial symptoms would help to establish appropriate diagnoses and subsequent treatment of mental health challenges among the aged. The study recommended that psychological support for the elderly is germane to their mental health sustainability.