DEVELOPMENT OF DEPRESSION FROM PREADOLESCENCE TO YOUNG ADULTHOOD - EMERGING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN A 10-YEAR LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

The authors investigated the emergence of gender differences in clinic al depression and the overall development of depression from preadoles cence to young adulthood among members of a complete birth cohort usin g a prospective longitudinal approach with structured diagnostic inter views administered 5 times over the course of 10 years. Small gender d ifferences in depression (females greater than males) first began to e merge between the ages of 13 and 15. However, the greatest increase in this gender difference occurred between ages 15 and 18. Depression ra tes and accompanying gender differences for a university student subsa mple were no different than For a nonuniversity subsample. There was n o gender difference for depression recurrence or for depression sympto m severity. The peak increase in both overall rates of depression and new cases of depression occurred between the ages of 15 and 18. Result s suggest that middle-to-late adolescence (ages 15-18) may be a critic al time for studying vulnerability to depression because of the higher depression rates and the greater risk for depression onset and dramat ic increase in gender differences in depression during this period.