Integrated review of the social and psychological gender differences in depression

Abstract

A range of theories has been proposed to explain the well-documented finding that women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression. Theories offering psychological and sociological explanations are reviewed in this paper. The possibility that this finding is an artefact of differences in the ways in which men and women demonstrate depression is examined. A discussion of the implications of establishing a broader systemic perspective of depression for understanding the gender difference in depression is presented.