The Sex Difference in Depression Across 29 Countries

Hopcroft, Rosemary L.; Bradley, Dana Burr

doi:10.1353/sof.2007.0071

Cited by 130 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Gender gaps have been seen identified in the formal literature when considering men's lower likelihood to seek care; in a recent study, it has been observed that the circumstance of women having a higher care use is dependent on the type of care provider, with greater gender inequality in the use of primary healthcare (22). Further, women might be more likely to experience both role and financial strains, that may be associated, for example with child care difficulties, the need to juggle work and family responsibilities, and single parenthood (23)(24)(25). This study focuses on the individual determinants of depressive behavior and its gender differences using data from South Korea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Instrumental Variable Probit (IVP) analysis on depressed mood in Korea: the impact of gender differences and other socio-economic factors

Gitto

Noh

Andrés

2015

Int J Health Policy Manag

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Background: Depression is a mental health state whose frequency has been increasing in modern societies. It imposes a great burden, because of the strong impact on people's quality of life and happiness. Depression can be reliably diagnosed and treated in primary care: if more people could get effective treatments earlier, the costs related to depression would be reversed. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of socio-economic factors and gender on depressed mood, focusing on Korea. In fact, in spite of the great amount of empirical studies carried out for other countries, few epidemiological studies have examined the socio-economic determinants of depression in Korea and they were either limited to samples of employed women or did not control for individual health status. Moreover, as the likely data endogeneity (i.e. the possibility of correlation between the dependent variable and the error term as a result of autocorrelation or simultaneity, such as, in this case, the depressed mood due to health factors that, in turn might be caused by depression), might bias the results, the present study proposes an empirical approach, based on instrumental variables, to deal with this problem. Methods: Data for the year 2008 from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were employed. About seven thousands of people (N= 6,751, of which 43% were males and 57% females), aged from 19 to 75 years old, were included in the sample considered in the analysis. In order to take into account the possible endogeneity of some explanatory variables, two Instrumental Variables Probit (IVP) regressions were estimated; the variables for which instrumental equations were estimated were related to the participation of women to the workforce and to good health, as reported by people in the sample. Explanatory variables were related to age, gender, family factors (such as the number of family members and marital status) and socio-economic factors (such as education, residence in metropolitan areas, and so on). As the results of the Wald test carried out after the estimations did not allow to reject the null hypothesis of endogeneity, a probit model was run too. Results: Overall, women tend to develop depression more frequently than men. There is an inverse effect of education on depressed mood (probability of -24.6% to report a depressed mood due to high school education, as it emerges from the probit model marginal effects), while marital status and the number of family members may act as protective factors (probability to report a depressed mood of -1.0% for each family member). Depression is significantly associated with socio-economic conditions, such as work and income. Living in metropolitan areas is inversely correlated with depression (probability of -4.1% to report a depressed mood estimated through the probit model): this could be explained considering that, in rural areas, people rarely have immediate access to high-quality health services. Conclusion: This study outlines the fact...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Korea also faces inequality issues, as productive activities are highly concentrated in metropolitan areas. Physical illness should also be considered (25), since depression often occurs with other comorbidity factors (42). Poor physical health might lead to depression in later stages of life (43).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Instrumental Variable Probit (IVP) analysis on depressed mood in Korea: the impact of gender differences and other socio-economic factors

Gitto

Noh

Andrés

2015

Int J Health Policy Manag

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“…A cluster of health outcomes that include substance abuse (alcohol or drug) and their direct or indirect consequences (such as traffic accidents) are consistently in excess among males (see further discussion below). Women's vulnerability to unipolar depression in the top 10 list is echoed by excess female DALYs for a range of other psychiatric conditions, including panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder (see Table 2b); the excess female DALYs for these outcomes is found in many national and cross-national studies (Hallstrom 2001, Angst 2002, Hopcraft 2007). Several authors have highlighted possible gender biases in current diagnostic instruments that would lead to under-diagnosis of male depression (Rutz 1999, Bech 2001, Moeller Leimkuehler 2007.…”

Section: Part 1: Sex Differences In Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex, gender, and vulnerability

Snow

2008

Global Public Health

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This paper is concerned with how sex chromosomes and gendered experience differentially contribute to health outcomes, and how gender effects provide an underexplored avenue for health intervention. Research on gender and health is currently undermined by conflation of sex and gender in much of the epidemiologic and clinical literature. This precludes any meaningful reflection on the extent to which our genetic blueprint, versus gendered socialisation, contributes to the specific health vulnerabilities of males or females. Drawing on the 2002 global DALYs for males and females, this paper looks at health outcomes that differentially affect males and females, and distinguishes between vulnerabilities linked to the XX or XY genotype, vulnerabilities due to gendered life experience, and vulnerabilities about which we understand relatively little. The paper highlights the dynamic and changeable nature of gendered health vulnerabilities. Given that gender-based risks are in principal amenable to social change, they offer untapped potential for health interventions.

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“…This is not specific to Slovenia, since this gender gap in depression is one of the most consistent findings in the social epidemiology of mental health. Depression is approximately twice as common among women as among men (3,4,5). The question that arises is why?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The question that arises is why? Usually the differences in depression across the genders are substantiated by biological factors (neurohormonal or genetic) (4,5) and psychological factors (the role of stressors and the individual reaction to them...) (6). The stress models and the vulnerability models mostly describe the connection between the stressors a person is subjected to and the individual reaction to them as the main reason for depressive reactions (6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%