Predictors of willingness to ask for help in the elderly population

Depression can be quite prevalent in the elderly population, and what’s worse is the varying abilities and willingness in the elderly populations to ask for help. In this study, I am attempting to see if there are ways to be able to predict if elderly people are willing to ask for help. This will help society understand where to focus our attention on supporting this community. We found that there are predictors using Classification and Regression Trees, Random Forest, Generalized Boosted Regression Models. We are able to predict varying levels of elderly participants’ willingness to ask for help based on their social grasp, how many close people they have to them, and the amount of concern they show for others. Marital status, social and religious activity, health conditions, cognitive impairment, and history of depression were not good predictors of if an elderly person would ask for help.