GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE ONSET OF DEPRESSION FOLLOWING A SHARED LIFEEVENT - A STUDY OF COUPLES

Background. Gender differences in clinically relevant depression are w ell established, appear to be greatest in childbearing years and may b e the result of gender differences in social roles. Methods. A communi ty sample of 100 couples who had recently experienced at least one thr eatening life event that was potentially depressogenic for both of the m was studied using a semi-structured interviewer-rated interview. Ons et of depression was assessed using the Present State Examination, and , rather than assuming that a gender difference in roles existed unifo rmly across the couples, they were characterized according to their ac tual role activity and commitment. Results. Women were found to have a greater risk of a depressive episode following the life event than me n, and this difference was of a similar magnitude to other reports of gender differences in depression. Consistent with a role hypothesis, t his greater risk was entirely restricted to episodes that followed eve nts involving children, housing or reproductive problems. In addition, it was found that women's greater risk of a depressive episode follow ing such events was only present among those couples where there were clear gender differences in associated roles. There was some suggestio n that differences in roles on the one hand resulted in women being mo re likely to hold themselves responsible for such events and, on the o ther hand, enabled men to distance themselves from them. Conclusions. These results support the hypothesis that gender differences in rates of depression in the general population are, to a considerable extent, a consequence of role differences.