IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v258y2020ics0277953620303075.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in the depression gender gap from 1992 to 2014: Cohort effects and mediation by gendered social position

Author

Listed:
  • Platt, Jonathan M.
  • Bates, Lisa M.
  • Jager, Justin
  • McLaughlin, Katie A.
  • Keyes, Katherine M.

Abstract

The depression gap (i.e., higher rates of depression among women than men) represents an important mental health disparity in the US. Differences in gendered social position (i.e., the roles, responsibilities, and opportunities available to women and men), which have been changing since the mid-20th Century may contribute to this gender gap. The present study examined the evidence for a changing depression gap across birth cohorts and tested the extent to which any changes over time were mediated by changes in relative social position between women and men. Data were from the National Longitudinal Surveys. The depression gap was defined as differences in mean CESD scores for women vs. men. The analytic sample included 13,666 respondents interviewed from 1992 to 2014. Hierarchical mixed models estimated the magnitude of the gender depression gap over time, its association with 10-year birth cohort (range: 1957–1994), and whether any variation was mediated by ratios among women relative to men of obtaining a college degree, being employed full-time, and the average number of hours spent doing housework per week, three indicators of gendered social position. There was a linear decrease in the depression gap by 0.18 points across birth cohort (95% CI = −0.26, −0.10). The results of the mediation analysis estimated that an increasing ratio of college degree attainment mediated 39% of the gender depression gap across cohorts (95% CI = 0.18, 0.78). There was no evidence of mediation due to changing employment or housework ratios. These findings partially support the hypothesis that the depression gap is changing over time and is meaningfully related to the social environment. Understanding the social causes of the depression gap can illuminate the fundamental processes through which depression disparities may be perpetuated or attenuated over time and may aid in the identification of strategies to reduce them.

Suggested Citation

  • Platt, Jonathan M. & Bates, Lisa M. & Jager, Justin & McLaughlin, Katie A. & Keyes, Katherine M., 2020. "Changes in the depression gender gap from 1992 to 2014: Cohort effects and mediation by gendered social position," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:258:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620303075
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113088
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620303075
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113088?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz & Ilyana Kuziemko, 2006. "The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 133-156, Fall.
    2. Gemma Vilagut & Carlos G Forero & Gabriela Barbaglia & Jordi Alonso, 2016. "Screening for Depression in the General Population with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D): A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2002. "The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(4), pages 730-770, August.
    4. R Nicholas Carleton & Michel A Thibodeau & Michelle J N Teale & Patrick G Welch & Murray P Abrams & Thomas Robinson & Gordon J G Asmundson, 2013. "The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: A Review with a Theoretical and Empirical Examination of Item Content and Factor Structure," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Schultz, T Paul, 1985. "The Demand for and Supply of Births: Fertility and Its Life Cycle Consequences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 992-1015, December.
    6. Honaker, James & King, Gary & Blackwell, Matthew, 2011. "Amelia II: A Program for Missing Data," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 45(i07).
    7. Blau Francine D & Kahn Lawrence M, 2007. "The Gender Pay Gap," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 4(4), pages 1-6, June.
    8. Thomas Diprete & Claudia Buchmann, 2006. "Gender-specific trends in the value of education and the emerging gender gap in college completion," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 1-24, February.
    9. Attila Cseh*, 2008. "The Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Earnings," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 383-409, October.
    10. Keyes, Katherine M. & Utz, Rebecca L. & Robinson, Whitney & Li, Guohua, 2010. "What is a cohort effect? Comparison of three statistical methods for modeling cohort effects in obesity prevalence in the United States, 1971-2006," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1100-1108, April.
    11. Tingley, Dustin & Yamamoto, Teppei & Hirose, Kentaro & Keele, Luke & Imai, Kosuke, 2014. "mediation: R Package for Causal Mediation Analysis," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 59(i05).
    12. Platt, Jonathan & Prins, Seth & Bates, Lisa & Keyes, Katherine, 2016. "Unequal depression for equal work? How the wage gap explains gendered disparities in mood disorders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-8.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gueltzow, Maria & Bijlsma, Maarten J. & van Lenthe, Frank J. & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2023. "The role of labor market inequalities in explaining the gender gap in depression risk among older US adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanzhe Zhang, 2021. "An Investment-and-Marriage Model with Differential Fecundity: On the College Gender Gap," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1464-1486.
    2. Martín A Rossi & Christian A Ruzzier, 2018. "Career Choices and the Evolution of the College Gender Gap," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 307-333.
    3. Adele H. Marshall & Mariangela Zenga & Aglaia Kalamatianou, 2020. "Academic Students’ Progress Indicators and Gender Gaps Based on Survival Analysis and Data Mining Frameworks," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 1097-1128, October.
    4. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    5. Barbara Boelmann, 2024. "Women's Missing Mobility and the Gender Gap in Higher Education: Evidence from Germany's University Expansion," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_518, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    6. Keller, Elisa, 2019. "Labor supply and gender differences in occupational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 221-241.
    7. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2014. "Maternal health and the baby boom," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 5, pages 225-269, July.
    8. Rania Gihleb & Osnat Lifshitz, 2022. "Dynamic Effects of Educational Assortative Mating on Labor Supply," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 302-327, October.
    9. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2023. "Scientific Background to the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2023-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    10. Steven Ruggles, 2015. "Patriarchy, Power, and Pay: The Transformation of American Families, 1800–2015," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1797-1823, December.
    11. Marianne Bertrand & Emir Kamenica & Jessica Pan, 2015. "Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 571-614.
    12. Pekkarinen, Tuomas, 2012. "Gender Differences in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 6390, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Sarah Kroeger & Giulia La Mattina, 2017. "Assisted reproductive technology and women’s choice to pursue professional careers," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 723-769, July.
    14. Nicholas A. Wright, 2024. "Girls Dominate, Boys Left Behind: Decomposing the Gender Gap in Education Outcomes in Jamaica," Working Papers 2410, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    15. Ma. Christina Epetia, 2024. "Claudia Goldin and the economics of women and work," Philippine Review of Economics, University of the Philippines School of Economics and Philippine Economic Society, vol. 61(1), pages 71-86, June.
    16. Gustavo Adolfo García & Diego René Gonzales Miranda & Oscar Gallo & Juan Pablo Roman Calderon, 2020. "Millennials and the gender wage gap: Do millennial women face a glass ceiling?," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 18409, Universidad EAFIT.
    17. Lara Lopez & Fernando L. Vázquez & Ángela J. Torres & Patricia Otero & Vanessa Blanco & Olga Díaz & Mario Páramo, 2020. "Long-Term Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Conference Call Intervention on Depression in Non-Professional Caregivers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-24, November.
    18. Conger, Dylan, 2015. "High school grades, admissions policies, and the gender gap in college enrollment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 144-147.
    19. Fernández, Raquel & Wong, Joyce Cheng, 2011. "The Disappearing Gender Gap: The Impact of Divorce, Wages, and Preferences on Education Choices and Women's Work," IZA Discussion Papers 6046, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Adam Isen & Betsey Stevenson, 2010. "Women's Education and Family Behavior: Trends in Marriage, Divorce and Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demography and the Economy, pages 107-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:258:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620303075. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.