GENDER DIFFERENCES CONCERNING DEPRESSION - DO THE EMOTIONAL-REACTIONSIN DAILY-LIFE LEAD TO DEPRESSIONS

In this article, we discuss the question as to why more women suffer f rom depression than do men. Although many studies have been conducted in an attempt to better understand the gender differences concerning d epression, most of the work done in this field has focused upon depres sive patients. Consequently, insufficient knowledge concerning the mec hanisms connected to gender which lead to depression exists. We assume that depression is a consequence of an already depressiogenic cogniti ve style practiced in everyday life. Women tend to deal in a different (and more negative) manner with failure and frustration in daily stre ss situations than do men. Women's behavior is characterized by a dysf unctional attributional style, by less appropriate goals, more negativ e coping strategies and a less favourable primary appraisal. In additi on, their emotional reactions depend to a great extent upon these intr apsychic maladaptive processes. These daily life patterns in turn pred ispose women to depression in situations oi great stress (critical lif e events, chronic stress, etc.). Although these ideas in themselves ar e not new, the methodological approach presented in this study address es this issue in a novel may for the following two reasons: Firstly, r ather than focusing upon depression, we focus upon sadness (as a norma l range emotional response) in an effort to undercover the precursors of depression. Secondly, we use a particularly broad data base (selfre port data; independant observer ratings; experimental data; ratings fr om field studies, etc.). The results found in this study support our h ypothesis that the way in which women manage failure in stress situati ons is more dysfunctional than the way men cope with similar situation s and that Nomen react with more sadness than do men. These findings c annot. be explained solely by a higher level of emotional expressivene ss in our female subjects.