GENDER, TYPE OF TREATMENT, DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTITUDES, SOCIAL SUPPORT, LIFE EVENTS, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS OVER NATURALISTIC FOLLOW-UP

Objective: The present study investigated gender differences in depres sive symptoms during a naturalistic follow-up for outpatients with maj or depressive disorder in the National Institute of Mental Health Trea tment of Depression Collaborative Research Program. Specifically, the study investigated whether gender interacted with type of treatment re ceived, dysfunctional attitudes, life events, or social support to pre dict severity of depressive symptoms. In addition, aspects of these ps ychosocial factors (need for approval, interpersonal life events, and close friendships), hypothesized to be more salient for women, were ex amined to determine if they had a differential impact on level of depr essive symptoms in men and women. Method: Assessments conducted 6, 12, and 18 months after treatment included measures of depressive symptom s, dysfunctional attitudes, current life events, and social support. D ata were available for 188 subjects (134 women and 54 men). Regression analyses were conducted to examine whether gender as a main effect, o r interacting with dysfunctional attitudes, life events, social suppor t, or subtypes of these variables, predicted cross-sectional or longit udinal measures of depressive symptoms during follow-up. Results: A co nsistent finding of the study was that over the 18 months of this natu ralistic follow-up, there were no main effects for gender or any signi ficant interactions involving gender and any of the variables of inter est. The study demonstrated that life events and social support were r elated to severity of depressive symptoms for both genders. Conclusion s: Despite differential prevalence rates of major depression for men a nd women, findings do not support a different process in outcome of il lness for men and women.