Journal List > Korean J Women Health Nurs > v.17(2) > 1037272

Park: A Study on Social Support and Depression by Gender among Adults

Abstract

Purpose

This study was to compare social support and depression by gender, to investigate related factors, and to inquire effect of social support on depression by gender.

Methods

This study analyzed raw data from a project funded by Jeju Province. The data were collected through home visit interview from 750 households which were selected by using randomized cluster sampling method. CES-D and MOS SSS were used for measuring depression and social support. Data obtained from 896 adults were analyzed using t-test, χ2 test and hierarchical regression.

Results

There was no significant difference of depression prevalence, presenting 15.2% for men and 14.5% for women. The related factors were marital status, educational level, and socioeconomic status for men and only socioeconomic status for women. The result of hierarchical regression presented that social support was significant on depression, showing increase of R2 from .151 to .328 when adding social support to other variables for men, increase of R2 from .058 to .192 for women.

Conclusion

The social support was an influential factor on depression both men and women, the development of strategies considering risk population by gender for enhancing social support to prevent and to manage depression was suggested.

Figures and Tables

Table 1
General Characteristics of the Subjects (N=896)
kjwhn-17-169-i001
Table 2
The Comparison of Social Support and Depression by Gender (N=896)
kjwhn-17-169-i002
Table 3
The Prevalence of Depression by General Characteristics for Male and Female
kjwhn-17-169-i003

N=total number of subjects; n=the number of depressed people among each group.

Table 4
Hierarchical Regression on Depression for Men
kjwhn-17-169-i004
Table 5
Hierarchical Regression on Depression for Women
kjwhn-17-169-i005

References

1. Afifi M. Gender differences in mental health. Singapore Medical Journal. 2007. 48(5):385–391.
2. Blackmore E.R., Stanfeld S.A., Weller I., Munce S., Zagorsji B.M., Stewart D.E. Major depressive episodes and work stress: Results from a national population survey. American Journal of Public Health. 2007. 97(11):2088–2093.
3. Cho M.J., Kim K.H. Diagnostic validity of the CES-D (Korean version) in the assessment of DSM-III-R major depression. Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association. 1993. 32(3):381–399.
4. Cho M.J., Ham B.J., Hong J.P., Lee D.W., Lee J.Y., Jung I.W., et al. The Epidemiological Survey of Psychiatric Illnesses in Korea 2006. 2006. Seoul: Ministry of Health and Welfare & Seoul National University.
5. Cyranowski J.M., Frank E., Young E., Shear M.K. Adolescent onset of the gender difference in lifetime rates of major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2000. 57(1):21–27.
6. Dalgard O.S., Dowrick C., Lehtinen V., Vazquez-Barquero J.L., Casey P., Wilkinson G., et al. Negative life event, social support and gender difference in depression: A multinational community survey with data from the ODIN study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 2006. 41:444–451.
7. Dennerstein L., Astbury J., Morse C. Psychosocial and mental health aspects of women's health. 1993. Geneva: World Health Organization.
8. Female depression is twice than male's. Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. 2010. 04. 06. Retrieved July 1, 2010. from http://www.hira.or.kr/common/dummy.Jsp?pgmid=HIRAA060200000000.
9. Goldberg D. The aetiology of depression. Psychological Medicine. 2006. 36:1341–1347.
10. Greenglass E., Fiksenbaum L., Eaton J. The relationship between coping, social support, functional disability and depressin in the elderly. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping. 2006. 19(1):15–31.
11. Gutiérrez-Lobos K., Wolfl G., Scherer M., Anderer P., Schmidl-Mohl B. The gender gap in depression reconsidered: The influence of marital and employment status on the female/male ratio of treated incidence rates. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 2000. 35:202–210.
12. Khandelwal S., Chowdhury A., Regmi S.K., Mendis N., Kittirattanapaiboon P. Conquering depression. 2001. New Delhi–WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia.
13. Kendler K.S., Gardnert C.O., Nael M.C., Prescott C.A. Generic risk factors for major depression in men and women: Similar or different heritabilities and same or party distinct genes? Psychological Medicine. 2001. 31:605–616.
14. Kendler K.S., Myers J., Prescott C.A. Sex difference in the relationship between social support and risk for major depression: A longitudinal study of opposite-sex twin pairs. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2005. 162:250–256.
15. Kim J.S., Shin K.R. A study on depression, stress, and social support in adult women. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing. 2004. 34:352–361.
16. Kim M.D., Hwang S.W., Hong S.C. Prevalence of depression and correlates of depressive symptoms among residents in rural areas of Jeju Island. Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine. 2003. 24(9):833–844.
17. Kim S.O., Park Y.J. Relationships between depression and social support in elderly women. Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing. 2001. 3(2):230–239.
18. McKenzie K.. W.T Jun . Understanding depression. 2005. Seoul: Academia.
19. Ministry for Health, Welfare, Family Affair & Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008 National Health Statistics: 4th National Health and Nutrition Survey (2nd year)(2008). 2009. Seoul: Ministry for Health, Welfare, Family Affair & Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
20. Depression. National Institute of Mental Health. 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2010. from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml.
21. Nazroo J.Y., Edwards A.C., Brown G.W. Genetic differences in the onset of depression following a shared life event: A study of couples. Psychological Medicine. 1997. 27:9–20.
22. Park E., Kim M.D., Son Y.J., Song H.J., Hong S.C. The prevalence of depression and related factors among adults. Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing. 2009. 20(3):277–284.
23. Piccinelli M., Wilkinson G. Gender difference in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry. 2000. 177:486–492.
24. Radloff L.S. The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Journal of Applied Psychological Measures. 1977. 1:385–401.
25. Risser J., Cates A., Rehman H., Risser W. Gender differences in social support and depression among injection drug users in Houston, Texas. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 2010. 36(1):18–24.
26. Rotermann M. Marital breakdown and subsequent depression. Health Reports. 2007. 18(2):33–44.
27. Russell D., Taylor J. Living alone and depressive symptoms: The influence of gender, physical disability, and social support among hispanic and non-hispanicolder adults. Journal of Gerontology. Social Sciences. 2009. 64(1):95–104.
28. Sherbourne C.D., Stewart A.L. The MOS social support survey. Social Science & Medicine. 1991. 32:705–714.
29. Smith K.L., Matheson F.I., Moineddin R., Glazer R.H. Gender, income and immigration differences in depression in Canadian urban centres. Canadian Journal of Public Health. Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique. 2007. 98(2):149–153.
30. Velde S.V., Bracke P., Levecque K., Meuleman B. Gender differences in depression in 25 European countries after eliminating measurement bias in the CES-D 8. Social Science Research. 2010. 39:396–404.
TOOLS
Similar articles