Gender, Social-Relationship Involvement, and Depression

Abstract

Much of current thinking and research on gender differences in exposure and vulnerability to stress draws on the idea that the salience of social relationships for females is a major factor in their mental health. This study focused on gender differences in depressed mood, and the role of various interpersonal stresses, social supports, and relational involvements in accounting for this difference among adolescents. Findings from cross-sectional analyses using multiple-regression techniques reveal girls' higher levels of interpersonal caring orientation and involvement in the problems of significant others accounts for approximately 25% of the gender difference in distress. In tests of an interactive model of vulnerability, girls were not found to be more reactive to any of the interpersonal stress variables. However, in a context of family stress, girls who were involved in mother's problems or those having a strong interpersonal caring orientation had elevated depressed mood. These interactions do not account for the observed gender difference in distress, but are interpreted as suggesting that in family stress situations that negatively influence the mental health of both boys and girls, having a strong caring orientation or involvement in family problems is particularly harmful to girls. Boys, evidently, can be involved in family stresses, but are protected from negative emotional effects of this involvement. The study population was 1,208 ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders randomly sampled from public schools in three Boston-area communities.