CONTINUING FEMALE PREDOMINANCE IN DEPRESSIVE-ILLNESS

This paper examines gender differences in temporal trends for major de pressive disorder in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The study sample, a high-risk group from the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study on the Psychobiology of Depression, include s 2000 first-degrees relatives of probands with affective disorder. Th e age-specific incidence rates were analyzed to determine the effect o f gender, age, period, and cohort on depression by age 35. Women had n early a twofold increase in risk of major depressive disorder, with ra tes peaking between adolescence and adulthood. Vulnerability to depres sion was highest in the 1960s and 1970s. The rate increase in recent d ecades has not corresponded to reduction in the gender differences.