Nolen-Hoeksema S, Girgus J S
Department of Psychology, Stanford University.
Psychol Bull. 1994 May;115(3):424-43. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.115.3.424.
There are no gender differences in depression rates in prepubescent children, but, after the age of 15, girls and women are about twice as likely to be depressed as boys and men. In this article, three models for how gender differences in depression might develop in early adolescence are described and evaluated. According to Model 1, the causes of depression are the same for girls and boys, but these causes become more prevalent in girls than in boys in early adolescence. According to Model 2, there are different causes of depression in girls and boys, and the causes of girls' depression become more prevalent than the causes of boys' depression in early adolescence. According to Model 3, girls are more likely than boys to carry risk factors for depression even before early adolescence, but these risk factors lead to depression only in the face of challenges that increase in prevalence in early adolescence. Most studies of gender differences in depression have focused on the effects of individual variables on depression in girls and boys rather than on testing models of how these differences develop. Evidence for the variables most commonly thought to contribute to gender differences in depression in children and adolescents is reviewed, and this evidence is related to the three models for how these differences develop. It is concluded that Model 3 is best supported by the available data, although much more research is needed. Before adolescence, girls appear to develop more risk factors for depression than boys; girls also apparently face more new challenges in early adolescence than boys. It is argued that these factors combine, as specified in Model 3, to generate gender differences in depression beginning in early adolescence.
青春期前儿童的抑郁症发病率不存在性别差异，但15岁以后，女孩和女性患抑郁症的可能性大约是男孩和男性的两倍。在本文中，描述并评估了三种关于青春期早期抑郁症性别差异可能如何形成的模型。根据模型1，女孩和男孩患抑郁症的原因相同，但这些原因在青春期早期在女孩中比在男孩中更为普遍。根据模型2，女孩和男孩患抑郁症的原因不同，并且在青春期早期，女孩患抑郁症的原因比男孩患抑郁症的原因更为普遍。根据模型3，甚至在青春期早期之前，女孩比男孩更有可能携带抑郁症的风险因素，但这些风险因素只有在面对青春期早期患病率增加的挑战时才会导致抑郁症。大多数关于抑郁症性别差异的研究都集中在个体变量对女孩和男孩抑郁症的影响上，而不是测试这些差异如何形成的模型。本文回顾了最常被认为导致儿童和青少年抑郁症性别差异的变量的证据，并将这些证据与关于这些差异如何形成的三种模型联系起来。结论是，尽管还需要更多的研究，但现有数据最支持模型3。在青春期之前，女孩似乎比男孩更容易出现抑郁症的风险因素；在青春期早期，女孩显然也比男孩面临更多新的挑战。有人认为，正如模型3中所指出的，这些因素结合在一起，从青春期早期开始产生抑郁症的性别差异。
