Social roles and gender difference in the prevalence of common mental disorders

Background It is not known why the most common mental disorders. anxiety an d depression, are more prevalent among women than men. The aim was to test the hypothesis that this gender difference could be explained by difference s between men and women in social role occupancy, after adjusting for age a nd socio-economic status. Method Across-sectional survey of 8979 adults aged 16-74 years living in pr ivate households in England,Wales and Scotland was carried out. Prevalence of common mental disorders was assessed using the General Health Questionna ire. Results The gender difference in the prevalence of the common mental disord ers (unlike social role occupancy) did not vary with age to a statistically significant degree (unadjusted odds ratio 1.35, 95% Cl 1.23-1.48) (P < 0.0 001). Although those of either gender occupying the fewest, and women occup ying the most social roles (after adjusting for age) had the highest preval ence of common mental disorders, neither number of social roles, occupancy of traditional 'female' caring and domestic roles, nor socio-economic statu s explained the gender difference in these conditions (adjusted OR 1.26, 95 % CI 1.14-1.41) (P < 0.001). Conclusions. The gender difference in the prevalence of the common mental d isorders is not explained by differences between men and women in the numbe r or type of social roles occupied.