THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND RESPONSE STYLE ON DEPRESSED MOOD

Research has shown that gender differences in the rate of depression m ay be accounted for by different response styles. To examine whether r esponse style affects mood, depressed mood was induced in 31 females a nd 33 males (all Caucasian) who were then randomly assigned to either a ruminating or a distracting response task. The findings supported th e response style theory as the ruminating group remained depressed aft er the response task, while the distracting group became less depresse d. Gender was not a factor in this experiment as both men and women re acted similarly to the mood induction and the experimental tasks. Alth ough clinical implication cannot be determined from a study involving nondepressed subjects, it can be concluded that ruminating about one's depressed mood is not an effective method for overcoming depression.