Emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence: national panel results from three countries

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2002

Abstract:

Objective

Although the gender gap in depression among adults is well established, the age at which this phenomenon appears during adolescence is less clear. To address this, the authors present a cross-national examination of the emergence of the gender gap in depression during adolescence using national longitudinal panel data from Canada, Great Britain, and the United States.
Method

The two-wave, 1994-1996 Canadian National Population Health Survey uses a diagnostic measure across a 24-month interval, providing 12-month prevalence rates of major depressive disorder. The British Youth Panel measures depressive symptomatology across five annual waves beginning in 1995. The two-wave, 1995-1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health uses a measure of depressive symptomatology across a 12-month interval.
Results

Females have significantly higher rates of depression for each sample overall. When samples are decomposed by age, the gender gap in depression consistently emerges by age 14 across all three national samples, irrespective of the measure used or whether categorical cutoffs or untransformed scale scores are used to assess depressive symptomatology.
Conclusions

There is a consistent pattern in the onset of the gender gap in depression at age 14 across all three countries and measures. This consistency provides important etiologic clues concerning underlying causes of depression and identifies at what age diagnosis, treatment, and intervention strategies should be directed.

Published in

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 41 , p.190 -198

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200202000-00013

Subjects

Notes

not held in Res Lib - bibliographic reference only

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