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Author: Jager, Justin
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Platt, Jonathan M.
Bates, Lisa
Jager, Justin
McLaughlin, Katie A.
Keyes, Katherine M.
Changes in the Depression Gender Gap from 1992-2014: Cohort Effects and Mediation by Gendered Social Position
Social Science and Medicine 258 (August 2020): 113088.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620303075
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): College Degree; Depression (see also CESD); Employment; Gender Attitudes/Roles; Gender Differences; Housework/Housewives; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission

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 1992-2014. 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.
Bibliography Citation
Platt, Jonathan M., Lisa Bates, Justin Jager, Katie A. McLaughlin and Katherine M. Keyes. "Changes in the Depression Gender Gap from 1992-2014: Cohort Effects and Mediation by Gendered Social Position." Social Science and Medicine 258 (August 2020): 113088.