What Causes The Higher Rate Of Depression In Women

What causes the higher rate of depression in women

The explanation for the gender gap in susceptibility to depression most probably lies in a combination of biological, genetic, psychological, and social factors.

Biological factors
There appear to be important links between mood changes and reproductive health events. Gender differences in rates of depression emerge when females enter puberty and remain high throughout the childbearing years and into late middle age. Hormonal factors seem to play a role in some of the mood disturbance experienced by women. Twenty to 40 percent of menstruating women experience premenstrual mood and behavioral changes. Approximately 2 to 10 percent of women experience Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, a severe form of premenstrual syndrome that is characterized by severely impairing behavior and mood changes. As many as 10 percent to 15 percent of women experience a clinical depression during pregnancy or after the birth of a baby. There also appears to be an increase in depression during the perimenopausal period, but after menopause, this does not appear to be the case. Differences in thyroid function between men and women may also contribute to the gender difference in the prevalence of mood disorders.

Another biological factor that may contribute to gender differences in depression can be linked to circadian rhythm patterns, the complex system that regulates sleep and activity over each 24-hour period. Depressed women report more hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) than do men. Gender differences in the activity of neurotransmitters including serotonin and the effects of estrogen on theses neurotransmitters may also be linked to the gender disparity in rates of depression.

Genetic factors
Some forms of depression run in families. There is a 25 percent rate of depression in the first-degree relatives (mother, father, siblings) of people with depression and greater prevalence of the illness in first-degree and second-degree female relatives. But depression also occurs in people who have no family history of the disease. The genetic contribution to risk for depression is not something specific to women.

Men and women from families with depression are both at greater risk than those who come from families with no depression.

Psychosocial factors
Psychosocial factors that may contribute to women’s increased vulnerability to depression include the stress of multiple work and family responsibilities, sexual and physical abuse, sexual discrimination, lack of social supports, traumatic life experiences, and poverty.

Several studies of depression among college students and within the Amish community of eastern Pennsylvania have shown no gender difference in the rates of depression, suggesting that greater social equality may lead to more equal rates of depression in men and women.

Psychological make-up plays an important role in one’s vulnerability to depression as well. Thus, individuals with low self-esteem, pessimistic views, and tendencies towards stress are prone to clinical depression.

Studies also indicate that sexual and physical abuse are major risk factors for depression. Women are twice as likely as men to have experienced sexual abuse. A recent study found that three out of five of the women diagnosed with depressive illnesses had been victims of abuse. In one major study, 100 percent of women who had experienced severe childhood sexual abuse developed depression later in life.

Source: NAMI--The National Alliance on Mental Illness, copyright 2007; www.nami.org; 1-800-950-NAMI