The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

496 Chapter 13

(Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994): (1) same

cause but cause activated in females during ad-

olescence, (2) different causes but female cause

activated in adolescence, or (3) interactive the-

ory, in which females have more of the cause

than males and the cause is activated in ado-

lescence. These three perspectives are shown

in Figure 13.4, and there is some evidence for

each (Seiffge-Krenke & Stemmler, 2002).

Thesame cause theorysuggests that the

same factor causes depression in both females

and males, but that factor must increase dur-

ing adolescence for females only. For ex-

ample, imagine that a poor body image was

equally associated with depression in girls

and boys, but a poor body image increased

among girls but not boys during adolescence.

Thedifferent cause theorysays there

are different causes of girls’ and boys’ depres-

sion, and only the cause of girls’ depression

also could be a susceptibility factor. If we

learn women are socialized in different ways

than men that make them more at risk for

depression, their learning history would be

a susceptibility factor.Precipitating factors

are environmental events that trigger depres-

sion. If certain environmental factors induce

depression—and women face them more

than men—such as poverty or high relation-

ship strain, depression might be triggered

more in women than in men.

One fact that any theory of sex differ-

ences in depression must take into consider-

ation is that sex differences in depression do

not appear until adolescence. Before age 13

or 14, boys and girls are equally depressed or

boys are more likely than girls to be depressed

(Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). This

fact suggests that any theory of sex differences

in depression must take one of three forms

Theory Before Adolescence After Adolescence Summary Statement

Same Cause

Different Cause

Interactive Theory

+ : Cause A

: Cause A

: Cause B

> : Cause A

Same cause, cause only

increases in women

Different cause, only

female cause increases

Female always higher risk,

adolescence activates risk

Cause A Same

Cause A Increases

Cause A Same

Cause B Increases

Cause A Activated

FIGURE 13.4 The same cause, different cause, and interactive theories of depression.

Source: Adapted from Nolen-Hoeksema and Girgus (1994).

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