Sex Matters in Depression, Depending on Your Country

       In developed countries, the sex difference in depression and symptoms of depression is well documented. In the United States, women are more likely to report symptoms of depression than men at all ages, with a peak in the sex difference in late middle age.

 

     Detailed studies from the United States shows that the sex difference in depression increases over the life course because of increasing social and/or economic discrepancies between men and women. Likewise national studies done in 2004 show that much of the female excess of negative feelings (including sadness) in the United States can be explained by male/female differences in household income.

 

      In a published report by researchers Rosemary Hopcroft and Dana Burr, which covered a cross section of twenty nine developed and developing countries, women in countries with higher gender equality experienced more depression.  In countries with low gender equity, women’s roles are narrowly prescribed, and choice of roles and conflict between different roles is lessened. In countries with high gender equity, women’s lives are less predetermined, and greater choice may mean more conflict between possible roles. The researchers accounted for biological differences that may also be a factor for increased and prolonged depression.

 

       This could be a wakeup call for those pursuing goals of equal rights for women around the world. Unlike the United States and other western countries where mistakes of equality for

women have been made often and over a long period of time, those seeking a level playing field for women in developing countries can take into account the psychological impact that inferior wages and conflicts can have and hopefully push for better starting wages and social conditions as part of the needed improvements for women’s equality.