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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
Cross-national associations between gender and mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys
Archives of General Psychiatry, Volume 66, No. 7, Year 2009
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Description
Context: Gender differences in mental disorders, including more anxiety and mood disorders among women and more externalizing disorders among men, are found consistently in epidemiological surveys. The gender roles hypothesis suggests that these differences narrow as the roles of women and men become more equal. Objectives: To study time-space (cohort-country) variation in gender differences in lifetime DSM-IV mental disorders across cohorts in 15 countries in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative and to determine if this variation is significantly related to time-space variation in female gender role traditionality as measured by aggregate patterns of female education, employment, marital timing, and use of birth control. Design: Face-to-face household surveys. Setting: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific. Participants: Community-dwelling adults (N=72 933). Main Outcome Measures: The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview assessed lifetime prevalence and age at onset of 18 DSM-IV anxiety, mood, externalizing, and substance disorders. Survival analyses estimated time-space variation in female to male odds ratios of these disorders across cohorts defined by the following age ranges: 18 to 34, 35 to 49, 50 to 64, and 65 years and older. Structural equation analysis examined predictive effects of variation in gender role traditionality on these odds ratios. Results: In all cohorts and countries, women had more anxiety and mood disorders than men, and men had more externalizing and substance disorders than women. Although gender differences were generally consistent across cohorts, significant narrowing was found in recent cohorts for major depressive disorder and substance disorders. This narrowing was significantly related to temporal (major depressive disorder) and spatial (substance disorders) variation in gender role traditionality. Conclusions: While gender differences in most lifetime mental disorders were fairly stable over the timespace units studied, substantial intercohort narrowing of differences in major depression was found to be related to changes in the traditionality of female gender roles. Additional research is needed to understand why this temporal narrowing was confined to major depression. ©2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Seedat, Soraya
South Africa, Tygerberg
South African Medical Research Council
Scott, Kate Margaret
New Zealand, Dunedin
Otago Medical School
Angermeyer, Matthias Claus
Austria, Vienna
Center for Public Mental Health
Berglund, Patricia A.
United States, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Bromet, Evelyn J.
United States, Stony Brook
Stony Brook University
Brugha, Traolach Sean
United Kingdom, Leicester
University of Leicester
Demyttenaere, Koen
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven– University Hospital Leuven
de Girolamo, Giovanni
Italy, Brescia
Irccs Centro San Giovanni Di Dio Fatebenefratelli
Haro, Josep Maria
Spain, Madrid
Instituto de Salud Carlos Iii
Jin, Robert
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Karam, Elie Georges
Lebanon, Beirut
Saint George Hospital University Medical Center
Kovess - Masfety, Viviane
France, Paris
Université Paris Cité
Levinson, Daphna
Israel, Jerusalem
Ministry of Health
Medina-Mora, M. E.
Mexico, Mexico
Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramon de la Fuente
Ono, Yutaka
Japan, Tokyo
Keio University School of Medicine
Ormel, Johan Hans
Netherlands, Groningen
Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen
Pennell, Beth Ellen
United States, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Posada-Villa, J. A.
Colombia, Bogota
Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca
Sampson, Nancy A.
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Williams, David R.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Kessler, Ronald C.
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Statistics
Citations: 1,054
Authors: 21
Affiliations: 18
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.36
ISSN:
0003990X
e-ISSN:
15383636
Research Areas
Mental Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Cohort Study
Study Approach
Quantitative
Participants Gender
Male
Female