IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v63y2006i5p1400-1413.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sex differences in the effect of education on depression: Resource multiplication or resource substitution?

Author

Listed:
  • Ross, Catherine E.
  • Mirowsky, John

Abstract

Does education improve psychological well-being more for one sex than for the other? Resource substitution theory hypothesizes that education improves well-being more for women, because socioeconomic disadvantage makes them depend more on education to achieve well-being. Resource multiplication implies the opposite, that education improves well-being more for men, because they get bigger labor market payoffs from it such as authority and earnings. Data from a 1995 survey of US adults with follow-ups in 1998 and 2001 support the resource substitution hypothesis. Depression decreases more steeply for women than for men as the level of education increases. The gender gap in depression essentially disappears among persons with a college degree or higher. Two mediating interactions appear to account for the convergence. Education increases work creativity more sharply for women than for men, thereby reducing depression. Education increases the sense of control for both sexes equally, but depression declines more steeply for women as sense of control increases. Growth curve analyses of depression vectors confirm the resource substitution pattern. The adulthood life course pattern of depression levels and changes depends more strongly on education for women than for men.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross, Catherine E. & Mirowsky, John, 2006. "Sex differences in the effect of education on depression: Resource multiplication or resource substitution?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 1400-1413, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:5:p:1400-1413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00147-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Matthews, Sharon & Manor, Orly & Power, Chris, 1999. "Social inequalities in health: are there gender differences?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 49-60, January.
    2. Krause, Neal & Stryker, Sheldon, 1984. "Stress and well-being: The buffering role of locus of control beliefs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 18(9), pages 783-790, January.
    3. Rojas, Graciela & Araya, Ricardo & Lewis, Glyn, 2005. "Comparing sex inequalities in common affective disorders across countries: Great Britain and Chile," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(8), pages 1693-1703, April.
    4. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "Editorial: Human capital and human capability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1959-1961, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Catherine Ross & Ryan Masters & Robert Hummer, 2012. "Education and the Gender Gaps in Health and Mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(4), pages 1157-1183, November.
    2. Pierre Falzon & Vanina Mollo, 2009. "Promoting constructive ergonomics : the conditions for a capacitating work [Hacia una ergonomía constructiva : condiciones para un trabajo capacitante]," Post-Print hal-02496960, HAL.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Increasing Foreign Aid for Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 443-466, July.
    4. Canton, César G., 2012. "Empowering People in the Business Frontline: The Ruggie’s Framework and the Capability Approach," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(2), pages 191-216.
    5. Liliya Leopold & Thomas Leopold, 2016. "Education and Health across Lives and Cohorts: A Study of Cumulative Advantage in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 835, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Shen, Ke & Zeng, Yi, 2014. "Direct and indirect effects of childhood conditions on survival and health among male and female elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 207-214.
    7. Gabriella Conti & James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto, 2016. "The Effects of Two Influential Early Childhood Interventions on Health and Healthy Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 28-65, October.
    8. Fernando Bucheli, 2021. "Before Entering Adulthood: Developing an Index of Capabilities for Young Adults in Bogota," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 965-1002, June.
    9. Yogesh Ghore & Brad Long & Zeynep Ozkok & Derin Derici, 2023. "Rethinking human capital: Perspectives from women working in the informal economy," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(5), September.
    10. Adonteng-Kissi, Obed, 2018. "Causes of child labour: Perceptions of rural and urban parents in Ghana," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 55-65.
    11. Susan Harkness, 2004. "Social and Political Indicators of Human Well-being," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-33, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Andrea Salas‐Ortiz & Andrew M. Jones, 2024. "Inequality of opportunity in the double burden of malnutrition in Mexico," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(10), pages 2342-2380, October.
    13. Cazarez, Dulce Carolina Mendoza, 2022. "Exploring influences on the choice of fields of study in higher education: Evidence from Mexico," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2023. "Subjective Well-Being, Health and Socio-Demographic Factors Related to COVID-19 Vaccination: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Sample Survey Study from 2021–2022 in Urban Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-11, August.
    15. M. Dolores Montoya Diaz, 2002. "Socio‐economic health inequalities in Brazil: gender and age effects," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 141-154, March.
    16. Krista Lynn Minnotte & Deniz Yucel, 2018. "Work–Family Conflict, Job Insecurity, and Health Outcomes Among US Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 517-540, September.
    17. Abdillah, Kiky Kirina & Abdul Manaf, Azima & Awang, Abd Hair, 2022. "Land tenure security for low-income residents' urban livelihoods: A human development approach review of temporary occupation license," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. Bénédicte Zimmermann, 2012. "Collective responsibility in the workplace from a capability perspective," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 19-30, February.
    19. Jay Mitra & Mariusz Sokolowicz & Ursula Weisenfeld & Agnieszka Kurczewska & Silke Tegtmeier, 2020. "Citizen Entrepreneurship: A Conceptual Picture of the Inclusion, Integration and Engagement of Citizens in the Entrepreneurial Process," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 6(2), pages 242-260, July.
    20. Debra L. Brucker & Sophie Mitra & Navena Chaitoo & Joseph Mauro, 2015. "More Likely to Be Poor Whatever the Measure: Working-Age Persons with Disabilities in the United States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(1), pages 273-296, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    USA Education SES Gender Depression;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:63:y:2006:i:5:p:1400-1413. 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.