Sex differences in depression: The effects of occupation and marital status
TL;DR: The role of housewife has been hypothesized as the source of excess mental illness among married women as compared with married men as discussed by the authors, and both housewives and working wives are significantly more depressed than working husbands.
Abstract: The role of housewife has been hypothesized as the source of excess mental illness among married women as compared with married men. The present study found both housewives and working wives significantly more depressed than working husbands. Although working wives report that they do more housework than husbands, this factor was not significantly related to depression for either wives or husbands. It is suggested that the risk factors for depression, including marriage for women, may be better understood in the context of clinical theories of depression, especially the “learned helplessness” model.
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TL;DR: Results indicate that individuals' coping interventions are most effective when dealing with problems within the close interpersonal role areas of marriage and child-rearing and least effective when deals with the more impersonal problems found in occupation.
Abstract: Coping refers to behavior that protects peoplefrom being psychologically harmed by problematic social experience, a behavior that importantly mediates the impact that societies have on their members. The protective function of coping behavior can be exercised in three ways: by eliminating or modifying conditions giving rise to problems; by perceptually controlling the meaning of experience in a manner that neutralizes its problematic character; and by keeping the emotional consequences of problems within manageable bounds. The efficacy of a number of concrete coping behaviors representing these threefunctions was evaluated. Results indicate that individuals' coping interventions are most effective when dealing with problems within the close interpersonal role areas of marriage and child-rearing and least effective when dealing with the more impersonal problems found in occupation. The effective coping modes are unequally distributed in society, with men, the educated, and the affluent making greater use of the efficacious mechanisms.
7,715 citations
TL;DR: Recognition of the interdependent self-construal as a possible alternative conception of the self may stimulate new investigations into the ways the self influences a person's thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Abstract: The authors first describe individual differences in the structure of the self. In the independent self-construal, representations of others are separate from the self. In the interdependent self-construal, others are considered part of the self (H. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991). In general, men in the United States are thought to construct and maintain an independent self-construal, whereas women are thought to construct and maintain an interdependent self-construal. The authors review the psychological literature to demonstrate that many gender differences in cognition, motivation, emotion, and social behavior may be explained in terms of men's and women's different self-construals. Recognition of the interdependent self-construal as a possible alternative conception of the self may stimulate new investigations into the ways the self influences a person's thinking, feeling, and behaving.
2,390 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1985TL;DR: For a variety of sociopolitical, economic, scientific, and clinical reasons, considerable interest in the study of father-child relationships has emerged in the last decade as mentioned in this paper, and the focus has narrowed to concern about the effects of increased paternal involvement.
Abstract: For a variety of sociopolitical, economic, scientific, and clinical reasons, considerable interest in the study of father-child relationships has emerged in the last decade. In the last few years, the focus has narrowed to concern about the effects of increased paternal involvement. Interest in, and concern about, the latter seems to be especially prominent among social service providers and clinicians. For this reason, and also because the voluminous literature on paternal influences has been scrutinized quite extensively, we will focus in this chapter on evidence concerning the effects of increased involvement. Much less will be said, mostly in summary fashion, about paternal influences more generally, although readers will be referred to recent reviews for further discussions of the literature.
2,279 citations
TL;DR: Three models for how gender differences in depression might develop in early adolescence are described and evaluated and it is concluded that Model 3 is best supported by the available data, although much more research is needed.
Abstract: There are no gender differences in depression rates in prepubescent children, but, after the age of 15, girls and women are about twice as likely to be depressed as boys and men. In this article, three models for how gender differences in depression might develop in early adolescence are described a
2,112 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that differences in the ways that men and women respond to their own depressive episodes, whatever the origin of these episodes, may be an important source of the sex differences observed in depression.
Abstract: A large body of evidence indicates that women are more likely than men to show unipolar depression. Five classes of explanations for these sex differences are examined and the evidence for each class is reviewed. Not one of these explanations adequately accounts for the magnitude of the sex differences in depression. Finally, a response set explanation for the sex differences in depression is proposed. According to this explanation, men are more likely to engage in distracting behaviors that dampen their mood when depressed, but women are more likely to amplify their moods by ruminating about their depressed states and the possible causes of these states. Regardless of the initial source of a depressive episode (i.e., biological or psychological) men's more active responses to their negative moods may be more adaptive on average than women's less active, more ruminative responses. The epidemiology of a disorder can provide important clues to its etiology. When a disorder only strikes persons from one geographical region, one social class, or one gender, we can ask what characteristics of the vulnerable group might be making its members vulnerable. A frequent finding in epidemiological studies of mental disorders is that women are more prone to unipolar affective disorders than are men (Boyd & Weissman, 1981; Weissman & Klerman, 1977). A number of different explanations have been proposed to account for women's greater vulnerability to depression. Previous reviews of these explanations (e.g., Weissman & Klerman, 1977) have been quite brief and uncritical. In this article, the evidence for sex differences in unipolar depression first is summarized, then the most prominent explanations proposed for these sex differences are discussed in detail. These explanations include those attributing the differences to the response biases of subjects, as well as biological, psychoanalytic, sex role, and learned helplessness explanations. Although most of the proposed explanations for sex differences in depression have received some empirical support, not one of them has been definitively supported and not one as yet accounts for the magnitude of sex differences in depression. In the final section of this article it is suggested that differences in the ways that men and women respond to their own depressive episodes, whatever the origin of these episodes, may be an important source of the sex differences observed in depression.
1,905 citations
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1,606 citations
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01 Jan 1972
TL;DR: The Future of Marriage as mentioned in this paper is a classic contribution to the literature of marriage and of sex roles, and it has been widely cited as a seminal work in the field of sociological research.
Abstract: When "The Future of Marriage" was published a decade ago it was immediately acclaimed as a classic contribution to the literature of marriage and of sex roles. In it, the eminent sociologist Jessie Bernard argued that in every marriage there are actually two marriages-his and hers-and that sociological data reveals that marriage is more beneficial for men than for women. In a new edition of this pioneering work, Bernard provides a fresh introduction and update showing what has changed and what has remained the same since her book was first published
1,039 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that adult women have higher rates of mental illness than adult men and a survey of other disorders which appear to be a response to stress also shows women to haveHigher rates than men.
Abstract: This paper looks at the relationship between adult sex roles and mental illness.A fairly precise definition of mental illness is used limiting it to functional disorders characterized by anxiety (neurosis) and/or mental disorganization (psychosis). A number of characteristics of the woman's role in modern industrial societies that might promote the development of mental illness are discussed. The rates of mental illness for men and women following Wolrd War II are then compared by looking at community surveys, first admissions to mental hospitals, psychiatric treatment in general hospitals, psychiatric outpatient clinics, private outpatient psychiatric care, and the practices of general physicians. These data uniformly indicate that adult women have higher rates of mental illness than adult men. A survey of other disorders which appear to be a response to stress also shows women to have higher rates than men. Alternatives to the role explanation of the observed relationships are shown to be inadequate.
993 citations