Depression
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Definitions

Gender

  • Gender is a partial, but incomplete, explanation of why a person develops a mood disorder.
  • Essentially equal numbers of men and women develop melancholic depression and Bipolar Disorder.
  • However, studies have shown that there is a much greater likelihood of women developing non-melancholic depression than men. There are a number of explanations for this.
  • Artificial explanations for the gender difference include:
    • That women are more likely than men to admit to depression and to seek help for it.
    • That depression rating scales use behaviours and expressions that are more likely to be expressed by women (such as crying and appetite and weight changes), thereby inflating the depression scores in women.
  • 'Real' explanations for the gender difference include:
    • Social and socialisation factors, making women more likely than men to develop internalising personality styles, thereby placing them at greater risk of developing depression; and women with unsatisfactory marriages or a number of young children being highly overrepresented among samples of depressed people, suggesting a sex-role component or a reduced ability to seek assistance or support.
    • Biological issues – hormonal factors commencing in puberty may account for the increased chance in women of developing anxiety – a precursor to depression – or depression.
  • However, anatomy is not necessarily destiny. A number of studies of men and women in similar social roles have shown that there is either non-existent or only slight sex differences among those who develop non-melancholic depression.
  • This suggests that sex hormone (or biological) differences do create a greater chance among women of developing depression but not necessarily expressing it, requiring certain social factors to come into play for the risk to be more commonly expressed in women.

Read more about gender differences in depression [PDF, 36KB]
Download an article: Is the female preponderance in major depression secondary to gender differences in specific anxiety disorders? [PDF, 149KB]

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