A longitudinal study of the role and significance of mattering to others for depressive symptoms.

This paper addresses the hypothesis that the experience of mattering to others is inversely related to depressive symptomatology. We also assess the extent to which mattering overlaps or is redundant with other measures of personal and social resources. Based on multivariate analyses of two waves of data from a large urban community sample (n = 1,300), we identify three important findings. First, women experience substantially higher levels of mattering than do men. Therefore, if men and women had equal levels of mattering, women would report even higher depression scores relative to men. Second, it is clear that mattering and sub-dimensions of social support are substantially more confounded among men than among women. Finally, analyses confirm that mattering is conditionally predictive of depression by gender. Specifically, variations in mattering are predictive of depression for women, but not for men. This relationship is confirmed both cross-sectionally and over time.     

Economic Pressure, Maternal Depression, and Child Adjustment in Latino Families: An Exploratory Study

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of poverty and economic pressure upon the adjustment of mothers and children in immigrant Latino families. Participants included 56 first generation Latina mothers who completed questionnaires addressing economic difficulties, depression, social support, and behavior problems exhibited by their children (30 boys, 26 girls) who ranged in ages from 4 to 13. Results indicate that maternal depression mediates the relationship between maternal economic pressure and child adjustment. Social support was found to further moderate the relationship between maternal depression and child internalizing problems. Gender differences indicated that relations were stronger among mothers of boys than mothers of girls.     

Gender, household labor, and psychological distress: the impact of the amount and division of housework.

Using a national longitudinal survey of a representative sample of 1,256 adults, I assess the impact of the amount of household labor performed and its division within the household on men's and women's depression levels, adjusting for prior mental health status. I test two alternative explanations of the contributions of household labor and the division of household labor to gender differences in depression: differential exposure and differential vulnerability. The results indicate that men's lower contributions to household labor explain part of the gender difference in depression. Inequity in the division of household labor has a greater impact on distress than does the amount of household labor. Employment status moderates the effect of the division of labor on depression. Among those who describe themselves as keeping house, depression was lowest for those who performed 79.8 percent of housework. In contrast, for those employed full-time the minimum level of depression occurs at 45.8 percent of the household labor. Men report performing 42.3 percent of the housework in their homes compared to 68.1 percent reported by women. Thus, on average women are performing household labor beyond the point of maximum psychological benefit, whereas men are not. Social support mediates the effects of the division of household labor. The only gender difference in effects occurred among those who are married, for whom social support was associated with lower levels of depression for women than men.     

Untangling Inequalities: Gender,Race, and Socioeconomic Differences in Depression1

In their important paper, Link and Phelan (1995) argue that socioeconomic status is a fundamental cause of variation in well‐being and that the social resources associated with socioeconomic status constitute the fundamental cause of variation in well‐being. In this article, I elaborate on the fundamental cause perspective in three respects: by suggesting an expansion of the definition of resources, by examining how race and gender influence variation in the relationship between resources and mental health, and by developing a model of the relationship between social class, race, and gender that takes account of the potential asymmetry in the influence of resources across race and gender. Using the 2003 National Health Interview Survey and ordinary least squares regression, I find that black and white men are significantly less depressed than black and white women. However, women accrue greater mental health advantage from marriage, home ownership, and education. African‐American men experience less depression as a result of being unmarried and non‐Hispanic white women experience less benefit from full‐time employment, relative to African‐American women and men. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research on race, class, and gender differences in health.     

Widowhood and depression: explaining long-term gender differences in vulnerability.

Results from a 1986 national survey (N = 3,614) show that having ever been widowed is associated with current levels of depression and that this association is greater for men than women. Some of this apparent gender difference occurs because men have been widowed for a shorter average period of time than women and the effects of widowhood appear to lessen over time. Widowhood also is associated with different types and amounts of life strain for men and women. The results suggest that the primary mechanism linking widowhood to depression among women is financial strain. Among men, the more critical mechanisms seem to be strains associated with household management. When specific strains occur, they appear to have different effects on respondents who have ever been widowed and those who have not. Taken together, these results suggest that what appears on the surface to be a gender difference in vulnerability to the same life event turns out upon closer examination to occur because widowhood does not affect men and women in the same way.     

Attachment and depression differentially influence nicotine dependence among male and female undergraduates: a preliminary study

The authors surveyed a convenience sample of 208 undergraduate students who reported that they smoked cigarettes. The primary hypothesis they tested was whether gender predicted nicotine dependence. They further tested whether depression and attachment would mediate or moderate this relationship. Hierarchical regression analyses with social desirability and smoking stage of change entered as covariates indicated that women exhibited greater nicotine dependence than men did (p < .01). Lower attachment scores fully mediated this relationship, whereas elevated depression scores moderated the relationship. These findings suggest that depression and the inability to bond with peers may promote nicotine dependence among young female students.     

Do work commutes moderate the association between perceived neighborhood disorder and psychological distress?

ABSTRACT

Although numerous studies show that living in a neighborhood that is characterized by disorder (crime and dilapidation) can be psychologically distressing, very few studies have considered the element of exposure time or duration of exposure to adverse neighborhood environments. In this paper, we explore the intersection of commuting, mental health, and the subjective experience of neighborhood disadvantage and impoverished community life. Using data from the Welfare, Children, and Families project (2001), a probability sample of 1057 low-income women with children living in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, we test whether the association between neighborhood disorder and psychological distress is moderated or attenuated by commuting time and distance. Our results show that although neighborhood disorder is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and somatization, disorder tends to be less distressing for residents who are able to spend time away from these environments through longer commuting times and distances. In other words, working away from one’s neighborhood of residence may help to mitigate the adverse psychological consequences of neighborhood disorder. Our findings support previous research on the stress process and neighborhood disorder. Our work builds on the commuting literature by re-conceptualizing commuting time and distance as protective resources for disadvantaged populations.     

Social Capital is Associated with Earnings among Foreign‐born Mexican Men but not Women in Los Angeles County

The mechanisms through which social capital is accumulated may influence its relationship with hourly earnings. Because Mexican men and women accumulate social capital differently, for instance, gender may be an important factor for understanding social capital’s association with Mexican migrant earnings. Unlike past research that often fails to differentiate between various social capital metrics (e.g., social network member reciprocity, participation in civic group organizations, neighbourhood trust), this article estimates two of these associations with wages while controlling for individual‐, household‐ and neighbourhood‐level characteristics. Results suggest that foreign‐born Mexican men receive a wage premium from civic participation (bridging social capital) and a wage penalty from reciprocal social network exchange (bonding social capital). We also find that unauthorized legal status (among Mexican men and all migrants) and having children (among women) were negatively associated with hourly wages. We conclude with a discussion of the relative association of human and social capital with Mexican migrant wages.     

Home-to-Work Conflict,Work Qualities,and Emotional Distress

Among a representative sample of employed men and women in Toronto, Canada, home-to-work conflict is associated positively with anxiety and depression. Two hypotheses propose work qualities as moderators. The double disadvantage hypothesis predicts that home-to-work conflict is more distressing when work is nonautonomous, routine, or noxious. The intrusion on job status/rewards hypothesis predicts that conflict is more distressing when work is autonomous, nonroutine, or nonnoxious. Results show that the association between home-to-work conflict and distress is stronger (1) among people in more autonomous jobs; (2) among women in routinized jobs; and (3) among men in noxious environments.     

Domestic Outsourcing,Housework Time,and Subjective Time Pressure: New Insights From Longitudinal Data

Hiring household help could reduce housework time and alleviate subjective time pressure. Associations are assumed to be particularly apparent for women because they spend more time on housework than men. But empirical evidence on whether hiring help actually saves time or relieves time pressure is scant and inconclusive, chiefly because of data and methodological limitations. This study improves on earlier ones in that the authors examined panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 5,124 couples) that enable modeling techniques that take account of selection effects, possible reverse causality, and unobserved heterogeneity. Contrary to some earlier studies, the authors show that outsourcing does in fact reduce housework time, narrow gender gaps, and lower women's subjective time pressure. They conclude that domestic outsourcing may save time and reduce subjective pressure for some women, but one consequence may be increased inequality between women who can and cannot afford domestic help.     

Predictors of Depression Among Lesbian Women

ABSTRACT

There is a paucity of research on depression and lesbian women. This is surprising given that large numbers of women experience depressive episodes and lesbian women in particular face an increased number of stressors related to their sexual orientation. This study explored how social support from family, social support from friends, relationship involvement, and sexual orientation disclosure related to and predicted depression for a sample of lesbian women. Information from 117 questionnaires was compiled from self-identified lesbians recruited through various lesbian-positive groups and snowball sampling. Results indicated significantly lower depression rates for women who were in a relationship and moderate negative correlations between depression and social support from family, social support from friends, and sexual orientation disclosure. Standard multiple regression analysis showed that 38% of the variability in depression scores was predicted by knowing the scores on the four independent variables. These results suggest that each of the independent variables has a significant effect on level of depression for lesbian women in the sample.     

Family capital: Examining social capital,family commitment,and acculturation among college-enrolled Mexican-American men and women in the Southwestern United States

Social capital is integral to an individual’s ability to access various resources embedded in social and familial networks that are important in academic access and future success. The types and dynamics of social relationships created by men and women are thought to generate different forms of social capital with factors such as acculturation resulting in differences in intercultural networks and potential resource access. However, the factors that contribute to the development of social capital require further investigation. The current study examines the relationship between acculturation, family role commitment, and various social network characteristics associated with social capital among Mexican-American college-enrolled men (n = 119) and women (n = 196). Several multiple regressions were conducted. Findings indicate that acculturation and family role commitment relate differently to social-capital-network characteristics among Mexican-American men and women. For women, marital commitment was consistently related to social-capital-network characteristics whereas acculturation factors seemed to be more salient among men. Overall, study variables accounted for a larger portion of the variance for social-capital-network characteristics across analyses for men than women indicating that other factors may be at play in generating social capital for women.     

Examining the correlates of engagement and disengagement coping among help-seeking battered women

This study examined several potential correlates of engagement and disengagement coping, including abuse-related factors, socioeconomic and social coping resources, and childhood trauma variables among a sample of battered women (N = 388). Relationship abuse frequency, particularly psychological aggression, and peritraumatic dissociation were the strongest positive predictors of the use of disengagement coping. Social coping resources, including tangible support and appraisals of social support and belonging, were associated with higher engagement coping and lower disengagement coping. A positive association was also found between interparental domestic violence and disengagement coping, and negative associations were found between both childhood physical and sexual abuse and engagement coping. Results suggest that coping strategies used by battered women are multidetermined and deserve further exploration.     

Exercise, health, and aging

The aims of this study were to examine the level of exercise among elderly people with regard to the current Norwegian recommendations, demographic correlates of exercise, and the relationship between exercise and subjective health among elderly men and women. A representative sample of 3,770 Norwegian men and women between 65 and 97 years of age (mean 75 years) completed a questionnaire. The response rate was 83.4 %. Results showed that 6 % of the participants exercise at the level recommended. The oldest old (>80 years), those who have an illness and use medication, and individuals with lower levels of education and income are the least active segments of the sample. After adjusting for age, marital status, income, and education, results showed that exercise at moderate intensity 3-4 days per week is a significant predictor for positive subjective health.     

Divorce and Adult Psychological Well‐Being: Clarifying the Role of Gender and Child Age

Substantial evidence indicates that marital dissolution has negative consequences for adult well‐being. Because most research focuses on the average consequences of divorce, we know very little about factors that moderate this association. The present study tests the hypothesis that the effects of marital dissolution on adult well‐being are greatest for those with young children in the home at the time of marital dissolution. Analysis of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N= 4,811 men and women married at the baseline interview) supports this hypothesis, especially among women. For women without young children, marital dissolution appears to have few negative consequences for psychological well‐being. Differential exposure to secondary stressors that accompany marital dissolution partly explains these patterns.     

Gender Differences in Social Acculturation and Social Capital in Determining Marital and Parental Role Expectations Among People of Mexican Descent

Men and women experience acculturation differently, creating acculturative gaps that may affect traditional family role expectations. In the current study, additive moderation between social acculturation, bonding social capital, and gender in relationship to marital and parental role expectations was explored among Mexican Americans (N = 314). The results indicate that when bonding social capital is at low to moderate levels, women are more committed to marital and parental roles and report more marital reward value as social acculturation increases. However, as bonding social capital and social acculturation increase, women report less marital reward value and marital and parental commitment. The size and quality of personal networks among Mexican American men and women appear to relate to social acculturation’s conditional relationship to family role expectations.     

Partners’ overwork and individuals’ wellbeing and experienced relationship quality

In this paper, using high quality data from the Work, Family, and Health Network in a sample of IT workers in the US (N?=?590), we examine whether partners’ long work hours are associated with individuals’ perceived stress, time adequacy with partner, and relationship quality, and whether these relationships vary by gender. In addition, following the marital stress model, we investigate whether any negative correlation between partners’ long work hours and relationship quality is mediated by time adequacy or perceived stress. We find that women partnered to men who work long hours (50 or more hours per week) have significantly higher perceived stress and significantly lower time adequacy and relationship quality compared to women partnered to men who work a standard full-time work week (35–49 hours). Further, the increased stress associated with being partnered to a man who overworks, not lower time adequacy, mediates the negative relationship between overwork and relationship quality. Conversely, we find that men partnered to women who work long hours report no differences in stress, time adequacy, or relationship quality than men who are partnered to women who work a standard full-time work week.     

Depression among the homeless

Very little is known about one of the most common mental health problems facing the homeless: high levels of depressive symptomatology. This paper explains variation in the prevalence of depressive symptoms (CES-D) for a random sample of 150 shelter- and street-based homeless persons in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Fifty-nine percent of the sample show the signs of "probable clinical caseness"; yet there is significant variation in the level of symptomatology. A modified version of the social resources model explains 31 percent of the variation in CES-D scores. Although psychological resources play an important role in the distress outcome, as predicted, social supports are found to have limited impact on depression. Life circumstances have significant direct effects on depression. Persons with previous histories of mental illness and with extensive life event histories are more susceptible to distress. Younger persons, the chronically homeless, the street-based homeless, the sick, and the less educated are also more likely to experience depression. This study suggests the importance of understanding homelessness both as a psychological condition and as a complex set of life circumstances and physical deprivations.     

Grandparental childcare in Australia: gender differences in the correlates of providing regular grandparental care while parents work

Grandparents’ regular care for children while parents work has been mostly studied from the parental perspective. This paper focuses on the grandparents. Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006 (N = 7672) we investigate regular-caring grandparents’ demographic characteristics, which childcare activities they undertake, and how regular childcare provision relates to their time in other activities, subjective time pressure and satisfaction. Results indicate the correlates and nature of regular care differ by gender. Regular and non-regular-caring grandmothers’ relative time allocation to different childcare tasks barely differs, while regular-caring grandfathers’ care includes a much higher proportion of active care and travel than non-regular-caring grandfathers’. Regular care provision is associated with less leisure than non-regular-caring counterparts for both genders, but with only grandmothers’ housework, personal care and sleep time. Providing regular care doubles the likelihood of grandmothers reporting high subjective time pressure compared to non-regular-caring grandmothers; there is no association between regular care and time pressure for grandfathers. We conclude that in taking on regular care, grandparents echo the gender patterns found among parents, namely that it is women who are disproportionately impacted by meeting family care needs.     

Gender, social status, and emotional reliance

Past research has suggested the potential importance of considering emotional reliance, a dimension of interpersonal dependence, when addressing social and developmental risk factors for depression. Based on a probability sample of 1,393 adults aged 18-55 residing in Toronto, Canada, this paper addresses gender differences in emotional reliance and the relevance of emotional reliance in explaining the gender-depression association. We also explore link-ages between emotional reliance and status factors. Findings indicate that emotional reliance is significantly related to depression and that women report greater reliance than men, independent of social status factors like marital and parental status, education, income, and occupational prestige. Moreover, the positive association between emotional reliance and depression is greater for women. Several social status factors modify the relationship between gender and emotional reliance. Both education and occupational prestige reduce reliance, and are particularly beneficial in this regard for women. Marriage, on the other hand, increases emotional reliance, especially for men. We offer interpretations of this pattern of findings.