Gender role socialization and adolescents' reports of depression: Why some girls and not others?

Abstract

Previous research has noted a greater rate of depression among adolescent girls than boys (A. C. Petersen et al. [1993]; “Depression in Adolescence,” American Psychologist, Vol. 48, pp. 155–168; S. Nolen-Hoeksema [1987] “Sex Differences in Unipolar Depression,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 101, pp. 259–282). Explanations for this gender differential in adolescent reports of depressive symptomatology have been the focus of past scholarly attention (Petersen et al, 1993; D. B. Kandel and M. Davies [1982] “Epidemiology of Depressive Mood in Adolescents,” Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 39, pp. 1205–1232). Littk is known, however, about factors that underlie individual differences in adolescent girls' reports of depression. In this study, we explored individual differences in depressive symptoms as a function of young adolescent girls' gender role orientations (i.e., level of masculinity) and the degree of sex typing in their parents' marital roles. Participants were 89 seventh-and eighth-grade girls from white, rural, maritally intact families. Results revealed that girls who rated themselves as more masculine and their parents' marriage as more egalitarian were significantly lower in depression than other girls. Results of this study suggested that the potential positive effects of person characteristics associated with mental well-being (i.e., high masculinity) were moderated by family context (i.e., traditional families).