GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY - THE ROLE PLAYED BY ANXIOUS SOMATIC DEPRESSION ASSOCIATED WITH GENDER-RELATED ACHIEVEMENT CONCERNS

In the studies reported here, females were more likely than males to r eport high levels of depression accompanied by anxiety and somatic sym ptomatology such as disordered eating and headache, but not more likel y to report depression unaccompanied by these symptoms. This gender di fference in depression prevalence and the symptomatology associated wi th depression was due to a subgroup of females who scored high on scal es comprised of items measuring concerns about the limitations placed on their achievement (sample item: ''More people would pay attention t o my ideas if I were male'') or on their mothers (sample: ''When you w ere growing up, how much did your mother feel limited by being female? '') due to responses to their gender.