Encyclopedia of Sociology

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

children, family, and friends) should be especially
watchful for given the relationship between de-
pression and suicide.

CONCLUSIONS

Many people still carry the misperception that
depression is either a character flaw, a problem
that happens because of personal weaknesses, or is
completely ‘‘in the head.’’ As described above,
there are psychological, physiological, and societal
components to depression. Most importantly, it is
something that can and should be treated. There
are too few people who see a doctor when they
recognize symptoms of depression or think of
getting medical treatment for it. Depression is so
prevalent that it is often seen as a natural compo-
nent of life events like pregnancy and old age, and
depressed mothers and elderly men and women
often do not get the attention they need. Today,
much more is known about the causes and treat-
ment of this mental-health problem, with the best
form of treatment being a combination of medica-
tion and psychotherapy. Depression need not be
‘‘the end.’’

REFERENCES

Abraham, Karl 1968 ‘‘Notes on the Psychoanalytic In-
vestigation and Treatment of Manic-Depressive In-
sanity and Allied Conditions’’ (1911). In K. Abra-
ham, ed., Selected Papers of Karl Abraham. New York:
Basic Books.

Abramson, Lauren, Y., G. I. Metalsky, and L. B. Alloy
1989 ‘‘Hopelessness Depression: A Theory-Based
Subtype of Depression.’’ Psychological Review 96:358–372.

American Psychiatric Association 1994 Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV, 4th ed.
Washington, D.C. : American Psychiatric Association.

Beck, Aaron T. 1967 Depression: Clinical, Experimental
and Theoretical Aspects. New York: Harper and Row.

Beckham, E. E., and W. R. Leber (eds.) 1995 Handbook of
Depression: An Updated Review and Integration, 2nd ed.
New York: Guilford.

Bowlby, John 1988 A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment
and Healthy Human Development. New York: Ba-
sic Books.

Brown, G. W., and T. O. Harris 1978 Social Origins of
Depression. London: Free Press.

Endler, Norman S. 1990 Holiday of Darkness: A Psycholo-
gist’s Personal Journey Out of His Depression. New York:
John Wiley and Sons.

Freud, S. 1957 ‘‘Mourning and Melancholia’’ (1917). In

J. Strachey, ed., The Standard Edition of the Complete

Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, vol 14. London:

Hogarth.

Gotlib, Ian H., and Constance L. Hammen 1992 Psycho-

logical Aspects of Depression: Toward a Cognitive-Inter-

personal Integration. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Hammen, Constance 1997 Depression. Hove, East Sus-

sex, Eng.: Psychology Press.

Honig, A., and H. M. van Praag (eds.) 1997 Depression:

Neurobiological, Psychopathological, and Therapeutic Ad-

vances. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Linde K., G. Ramirez, C. D. Mulrow, A. Pauls, W.

Weidenhammer, and D. Melchart 1996 ‘‘St. John’s

Wort for Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Random-

ized Clinical Trials.’’ British Medical Journal, 313, 253.

Nemeroff, Charles B. 1998 ‘‘The Neurobiology of De-

pression.’’ Scientific American 278:42–49.

Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan 1995 ‘‘Epidemiology and Theo-

ries of Gender Differences in Unipolar Depression.’’

In M. V. Seeman, ed., Gender and Psychopathology, 63–

87. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.
    ———, and J. S. Girgus 1994 ‘‘The Emergence of Gen-
    der Differences in Depression During Adolescence.’’
    Psychological Bulletin 115:424–443.
    Pearlin, L. I., and C. Schooler 1978 ‘‘The Structure of
    Coping.’’ Journal of Health and Social Behavior 19:2–21.
    Sarason, Irwin G., and Barbara R. Sarason 1999 Abnor-
    mal Psychology: The Problem of Maladaptive Behavior,
    9th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
    Schildkraut, J. J., and A. Otero (eds.) 1996 Depression and
    the Spiritual in Modern Art: Homage to Miro, 112–130.
    New York: John Wiley and Sons.
    Seligman, Martin E. P. 1975 Helplessness: On Depression,
    Development and Death. San Francisco: Freeman.
    Styron, William 1990 Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Mad-
    ness. New York: Random House.
    Turner, R. J., B. Wheaton, and D. A. Lloyd 1995 ‘‘The
    Epidemiology of Social Stress.’’ American Sociological
    Review 60:104–125.

REGAN A. R. GURUNG, PH. D.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Descriptive statistics include data distribution and

the summary information of the data. Researchers

use descriptive statistics to organize and describe

the data of a sample or population. The character-

istics of the sample are statistics while those of the