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DO GENDER 13.2 Perceptions of Depression in Women and Men

Interview five people. Ask each of them to describe how they identify depression in a series of people, for example, their partner, a parent, a sibling, a friend, a work associate, and a stranger. Be sure to record the sex of each of these target people. On average, do people perceive depression differently when it is displayed by a female versus a male?

Other investigators argue that women and men manifest depressive symptoms in completely different ways and that male depression is not tapped by existing instruments. Supporters of this view argue that women display symptoms of depression, such as sadness, lethargy, and crying, whereas men are more likely to turn to alcohol when depressed. Depression is more likely to be related to alcohol problems in males than females (Marcus et al., 2008).

The idea that alcohol and drug problems are manifestations of depression in men is not easily refuted. In some sense, the reasoning is circular because depression ends up being defined as whatever mental health problems that women and men exhibit. Even if men and women do manifest distress in different ways, we can still ask why women are more depressed than men and why men have more problems with alcohol than women. I now turn to the different theories that have been developed to account for sex differences in depression.

TAKE HOME POINTS

Sex differences in depression among clinic populations may be exaggerated to the extent that physicians overdiagnose depression in women and underdiagnose depression in men. Sex differences in depression among community populations may be exaggerated to the extent that men are less willing than women to admit or recognize symptoms of depression. There is some evidence that people respond more negatively to depression in men than in women. It is possible that women and men are equally distressed, but that they manifest distress in different ways. Women may show symptoms of depression, and men may have alcohol problems.

THEORIES OF DEPRESSION Sex differences in depression can be understood by distinguishing between two sets of factors: susceptibility factors and precipitating factors (Radloff & Rae, 1979). Susceptibility factors are innate, usually biological, factors that place women at greater risk for depression than men. Hormones or genes unique to women would be susceptibility factors. Gender-role socialization, however, also could be a susceptibility factor. If we learn women are socialized in different ways than men that make them more at risk for depression, their learning history would be a susceptibility factor. Precipitating factors are environmental events that trigger depression. If certain environmental factors induce depression—and women face them more than men—such as poverty or high relationship strain, depression might be triggered more in women than in men.

One fact that any theory of sex differences in depression must take into consideration is that sex differences in depression do not appear until adolescence. Before age 13 or 14, boys and girls are equally depressed or boys are more likely than girls to be depressed (Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). This fact suggests that any theory of sex differences in depression must take one of three forms (Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994): (1) same cause but cause activated in females during adolescence, (2) different causes but female cause activated in adolescence, or (3) interactive theory, in which females have more of the cause than males and the cause is activated in adolescence. These three perspectives are shown in Figure 13.4, and there is some evidence for each (Seiffge-Krenke & Stemmler, 2002).

The same cause theory suggests that the same factor causes depression in both females and males, but that factor must increase during adolescence for females only. For example, imagine that a poor body image was

11/1/2017 Yuzu: Psychology of Gender: Fourth Edition

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equally associated with depression in girls and boys, but a poor body image increased among girls but not boys during adolescence.

The different cause theory says there are different causes of girls’ and boys’ depression, and only the cause of girls’ depression increases during adolescence. For example, imagine a poor body image is associated with depression among girls and being a poor athlete is associated with depression among boys. This theory could explain the emergence of sex differences in depression during adolescence if it were true that a negative body image (i.e., women’s risk factor for depression) becomes more prevalent during adolescence, but poor athletic ability (i.e., men’s risk factor for depression) does not change over time.

FIGURE 13.4The same cause, different cause, and interactive theories of depression. Source: Adapted from Nolen-Hoeksema and Girgus (1994).