A Hypothesis of Gender Differences in Self-Reporting Symptom of Depression: Implications to Solve Under-Diagnosis and Under-Treatment of Depression in Males.

Peixia Shi,Zhaohua Chen,Aigang Yang,Qin Dai,Xiaomei Ren,Qing Zhao

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.589687

Abstract

The phenomenon of female preponderance in depression has been well-reported, which has been challenged by higher rates of suicide and addictive behaviors in males, and a longer life-span in females. We thus propose an alternative hypothesis “Gender differences in self-reporting symptom of depression,” suggesting mild-moderate depression tends to be reported more often by females, and severe depression and suicide tend to be reported more often by males. Potential mechanisms that account for this difference may include three aspects: covariation between estrogen levels and the incidence peak of female depression, gender differences in coping style (e.g., comparative emotional inexpressiveness and non-help-seeking in males), and gender differences in symptom phenotypes (e.g., atypical symptoms in male depression). Our newly presented hypothesis implied the overlooked under-diagnosis and under-treatment of depression in males. For effective diagnoses and timely treatment of male depression, it is critical to incorporate symptoms of depression in males into the relevant diagnostic criteria, encourage males to express negative emotions, and increase awareness of suicidal behavior in males.

Highlights

In the past several decades, gender differences in depression have been extensively discussed
Without regard for age and socioeconomic status, if the female preponderance hypothesis is true, these aforementioned observations suggest that women suffer from depression more but suicide less, whereas men suffer from depression less but suicide more
Despite the complex interaction of environmental, historical, and genetic factors on age-related diseases and longevity between genders [37], if the female preponderance hypothesis is true, these results suggest that females suffer from depression more and live longer

Summary

A Hypothesis of Gender Differences in Self-Reporting Symptom of Depression

Implications to Solve Under-Diagnosis and Under-Treatment of Depression in Males. The phenomenon of female preponderance in depression has been well-reported, which has been challenged by higher rates of suicide and addictive behaviors in males, and a longer life-span in females. We propose an alternative hypothesis “Gender differences in self-reporting symptom of depression,” suggesting mild-moderate depression tends to be reported more often by females, and severe depression and suicide tend to be reported more often by males. Our newly presented hypothesis implied the overlooked under-diagnosis and undertreatment of depression in males. For effective diagnoses and timely treatment of male depression, it is critical to incorporate symptoms of depression in males into the relevant diagnostic criteria, encourage males to express negative emotions, and increase awareness of suicidal behavior in males

INTRODUCTION

Findings

CONCLUSION