Quick Write

What is the diathesis-stress model?

Are there any groups for which you believe the diathesis-stress model is more applicable than others?

GENDER CONSIDERATIONS IN MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

Psychology 12 (2.9)

Our goals today

That you will be able to discuss some theories of gender differences with relation to depression.

As you may or may not remember

Women are much more likely than men to suffer from depression.

About how much more likely?

Why do you think this might be?

This is a world-wide phenomenon

Women globally are at least twice as likely to suffer from depression.

Women also appear to be younger when depression strikes, have longer-lasting bouts, and respond less successfully to treatment.

There are some theories to possibly explain this

Today we are going to briefly discuss five different theories that possibly explain these differences.

1. Artifact theory

Says that men and women are equally prone to depression.

Clinicians are simply less likely to see it in men.

Why do you think this might be?Maybe because it is less socially acceptable in men?Perhaps women are more likely to display “emotional”

symptoms?

Criticisms: Data seems to support that women are no more likely

than men to admit that they are suffering from depression. Thus far, there is very little data to back this up.

2. The Hormone Theory

A woman’s biological life is characterized by frequent and significant changes in hormone levels.

Gender differences in rates of depression also span these same years.

CriticismsIt seems unlikely that these hormonal changes have

direct link to depression.This theory is also criticized as sexist: It basically

says that women are biologically flawed.

3. The Quality-of-Life Theory

Women generally experience more stress than men.

On average, they face more poverty, more menial jobs, less adequate housing, and more discrimination.

In many homes, women bear a disproportionate amount of responsibility.

Do you see a connection between this and other theories or models of depression that we have discussed?

4. Societal Pressure Theory

Women in Western societies are taught to aspire to low body weight.

Some of these body image goals may be unattainable.

The older a girl/woman gets, the more likely they are to be unsatisfied with their body image.

Consistent with this theory, gender differences in depression seem to first appear during adolescence.

Likewise, people with eating disorders also have a propensity to experience high levels of depression.

Any criticisms of this theory?

5. Lack-of-control theory

Women generally feel like they have less control on their lives.

Studies have shown that women are more likely to develop learned helplessness in a laboratory setting.

Victimization of any kind often produces a general sense of helplessness and increases symptoms of depression.

This is compounded by the fact that women are more likely to be victimized than men.

At the moment, these remain correlations. No “strict testing” has been done at this point.

Social Stress

As we’ve noted before, social stress and social support (or lack thereof) seem to have a connection to depression.

Studies seem to support the fact that people who have no social support are more likely to become depressed, and more likely to be depressed longer.