The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men?
Numerous epidemiological reports have found that adolescent, young adult, and middle-aged adult girls and women are more likely to be diagnosed with unipolar depression and report greater symptoms of depression when compared to boys and men of similar ages. What is less well-known is whether this ge...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6371140 2023-05-15T13:54:34+02:00 The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? Girgus, Joan S. Yang, Kaite Ferri, Christine V. 2017-11-15 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371140/ https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371140/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Review Text 2017 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 2019-03-10T01:09:40Z Numerous epidemiological reports have found that adolescent, young adult, and middle-aged adult girls and women are more likely to be diagnosed with unipolar depression and report greater symptoms of depression when compared to boys and men of similar ages. What is less well-known is whether this gender difference persists into late life. This literature review examines whether the well-known gender difference in unipolar depression continues into old age, and, if it does, whether the variables that are known to contribute to the gender difference in unipolar depression from adolescence through adulthood continue to contribute to the gender difference in the elderly, and/or whether there are new variables that arise in old age and contribute to the gender difference in the elderly. In this review of 85 empirical studies from every continent except for Antarctica, we find substantial support for the gender difference in depression in individuals who are 60 and older. More research is necessary to determine which factors are the strongest predictors of the gender difference in depression in late life, and particularly whether the factors that seem to be responsible for the gender difference in depression in earlier life stages continue to predict the gender difference in the elderly, and/or whether new factors come into play in late life. Longitudinal research, meta-analyses, and model-based investigations of predictors of the gender difference in depression are needed to provide insights into how and why the gender difference in depression persists in older age. Text Antarc* Antarctica PubMed Central (PMC) Geriatrics 2 4 35 |
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Review Girgus, Joan S. Yang, Kaite Ferri, Christine V. The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
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Review |
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Numerous epidemiological reports have found that adolescent, young adult, and middle-aged adult girls and women are more likely to be diagnosed with unipolar depression and report greater symptoms of depression when compared to boys and men of similar ages. What is less well-known is whether this gender difference persists into late life. This literature review examines whether the well-known gender difference in unipolar depression continues into old age, and, if it does, whether the variables that are known to contribute to the gender difference in unipolar depression from adolescence through adulthood continue to contribute to the gender difference in the elderly, and/or whether there are new variables that arise in old age and contribute to the gender difference in the elderly. In this review of 85 empirical studies from every continent except for Antarctica, we find substantial support for the gender difference in depression in individuals who are 60 and older. More research is necessary to determine which factors are the strongest predictors of the gender difference in depression in late life, and particularly whether the factors that seem to be responsible for the gender difference in depression in earlier life stages continue to predict the gender difference in the elderly, and/or whether new factors come into play in late life. Longitudinal research, meta-analyses, and model-based investigations of predictors of the gender difference in depression are needed to provide insights into how and why the gender difference in depression persists in older age. |
format |
Text |
author |
Girgus, Joan S. Yang, Kaite Ferri, Christine V. |
author_facet |
Girgus, Joan S. Yang, Kaite Ferri, Christine V. |
author_sort |
Girgus, Joan S. |
title |
The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
title_short |
The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
title_full |
The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
title_fullStr |
The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Gender Difference in Depression: Are Elderly Women at Greater Risk for Depression Than Elderly Men? |
title_sort |
gender difference in depression: are elderly women at greater risk for depression than elderly men? |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371140/ https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371140/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 |
op_rights |
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics2040035 |
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Geriatrics |
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2 |
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4 |
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35 |
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