Sensitivity to the depressogenic effect of stress and HPA-axis reactivity in adolescence: A review of gender differences

The Interaction of Childhood Maltreatment, Sex, and Borderline Personality Features in the Prediction of the Cortisol Awakening Response in Adolescents

“…Earlier analyses of the data used in the present study have revealed differential development of HPA axis functioning, with a tendency for attenuation among females during adolescence [29] . The present findings suggest that females might be more prone to HPA axis attenuation in the presence of childhood maltreatment, which is consistent with findings of increased sensitivity to environmental stressors observed in adolescent girls [43] . In addition, sex differences might also arise from different types of traumatization among the sexes.…”

Subthreshold depression in children and adolescents – a systematic review

“…Two large-scale studies of rather young samples find no gender differences (Ford et al, 2003;Costello et al, 1996), and female gender might only increase the risk for SD after puberty, as seen in MDD (Angold and Worthman, 1993;Costello et al, 2011;Oldehinkel and Bouma, 2011;Thapar et al, 2012). This is supported by adult studies of SD, which generally report higher rates in women than in men (Judd et al, 1994;Ayuso-Mateos et al, 2010;Cuijpers, 2004;Meeks et al, 2011).…”

Analysis of hair cortisol level in first-episodic and recurrent female patients with depression compared to healthy controls

“…Previous studies have reported that cortisol level in serum, saliva and 24-h urine was elevated in depression (Goldberg et al, 2001;Oldehinkel and Bouma, 2011;Young et al, 1991). Increased hair cortisol levels in medicated patients with depression were also reported (Dettenborn et al, 2012).…”