Throughout their lifetimes, 20 percent of American women have experienced at least one episode of depression. Some researchers estimated that the incidence of depression in females aged from mid-adolescence to adulthood is as high as two or three to one (Compas, Ey, & Grant, 1993, cited in Broderick & Korteland, 2002). More precisely, the rapid increase in the incidence rates of depression in females, vis-a-vis their male counterparts, has been found to begin between the ages of 13 and 15 (Wichstrom, 1999, cited in Broderick & Korteland, 2002). These research findings about the high incidence of depression in females from mid-adolescence onwards illuminate an interesting correlation between gender and depression that should be further investigated.
Therefore, in this paper, existing psychological research will be examined to identify and discuss underlying factors that have contributed to the development of this phenomenon. These factors include: gender role expectations, socialization, social devaluation of women, motherhood and single parenting. Moreover, women's capacity to cope with life stressors and counteract their depressive effects through their mastery, along with peer and family networks, will also be considered. A comparison of the similarities and the differences of depression experienced by young and older women will also be conducted and analyzed.
According to Broderick and Korteland's (2002) review of various research studies, girls from early adolescence onwards are highly susceptible to depression for a wide variety of reasons. First, researchers found that girls in this age group tended to experience more stressors than their male counterparts. Second, girls have been socialized to cope with their stressors by adopting rumination as a coping style that actually increases the intensity and length of depressive episodes. As various researchers pointed out, rumination involves investing one's full atten...