514 Chapter 13■ Women’s tendency to ruminate interferes with instru-
mental behavior, increases access to other negative
cognitions, and decreases social support, all of which
have been linked to depression.
■ Women may be more likely than men to respond to
stressful events by becoming introspective—that
is, privately self-conscious, a construct related to
rumination.
■ Women are more likely than men to experience rela-
tionship events and more vulnerable than men to the
negative effects of relationship stressors. It is the lat-
ter that is most strongly linked to sex differences in
depression.
■ There are multiple aspects of the female gender role.
Although communion is not related to depression, un-
mitigated communion is.
■ People who score high on unmitigated communion
become involved in others’ problems to the neglect of
themselves, both of which may increase women’s risk
for depression.
■ Aside from unmitigated communion, women are more
likely than men to find themselves in the caregiving
role. Women report greater caregiver burden than men,
increasing their risk of depression.Challenges of Adolescence
Sex differences in depression begin to appear
at around age 13, the time of transition from
middle school to high school. Recall Figure
13.2 which showed that boys had slightly
higher depression scores than girls be-
low age 13, but that girls had higher scores
than boys at age 13 and over (Twenge &
Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). Thus something
must occur during adolescence to spark this
sex difference in depression. Cyranowski and
colleagues (2000) state, “Pubertal maturationcaregiving tasks than men (d=+.20; Pinquart &
Sorensen, 2006). The sex difference in depres-
sion among caregivers was larger than the sex
difference found in noncaregiving popula-
tions. In a more recent study of spouses of pa-
tients with Parkinson’s disease, female spouses
reported greater role strain and greater in-
creases in role strain over 10 years than male
spouses (Lyons et al., 2009).
It is the caregiving role that may explain
why social ties are not as protective against
depression among women as they are among
men. Recall from Chapter 11 that social rela-
tions are a double-edged sword for women.
Social ties are not only a source of support,
but also a source of stress for women. One
study showed that the number of social roles
was directly related to fewer mental health
problems among men but showed a curvi-
linear relation to mental health problems
among women (Weich, Sloggett, & Lewis,
1998). That is, women with the fewest social
roles and women with the most social roles
had higher levels of mental distress. Women
who have many social roles may find that the
stressors to which they are exposed outweigh
the support they receive.TAKE HOME POINTS
■ Biological factors, including genes and hormones, most
certainly contribute to depression but cannot alone
explain the sex difference in depression.
■ Females’ low status in society may lead to lower per-
ceptions of control. A lack of control could contribute to
perceptions of helplessness, a precipitant of depression.
■ It is not the case that men exhibit more problem-
focused coping, and women exhibit more emotion-
focused coping. Instead, there are specific coping styles
related to sex. Women seek support and ruminate in
response to stress more than men.M13_HELG0185_04_SE_C13.indd 514 6/21/11 12:55 PM