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Sophie Sipprell
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
November 9, 2016
Gender Differences in Depression: Whats the Cause?
My sister was fifteen when she was diagnosed with depression, shortly after my parents
divorce. As a child, I looked up to her a lot since she is my older and only sibling. When she was
diagnosed with depression, it was hard to watch. It changes the person d her tremendously. She
was constantly tired, easily irritable and noticeable sad. With depression, she couldnt wasntbe
the same sister I knew. She couldnt help it. Depression interferes with daily normal functioning.
When she was first diagnosed, I did not know what depression really was, which prompted me to
look it up. ToO my understanding, depression is a psychological disorder that is a chemical
imbalance in the brain whereand certain neurotransmitters called monoamines (, such as
serotonin, dopamine, and and norepinephrine) , do not working correctly or/ their amounts are
reduced (Nauert PhD). Its impact on my family was tremendous and unforgettable. Watching
someone you love suffer is hard to watch. It creates a lot of stress and pain. Hopefully, if
recognized early on, they can be treated and the suffering minimalized.
Seeing how depression affected my sister initiated a made curiosity in meme curious
about it. We are only two years apart in age and were both impacted similarly by our parents
divorce. How did she become diagnosed with depression while I did not? Since we are the
closest to each other genetically, there musthas to be other factors besides DNA that influence
depression. The questions of how and why appear a lot when thinking about depression.
How does it occur? Why does it happen? As explained by Stephanie Faris, the author of Is

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Depression Genetic?, genetics are a factor in about 40% of overall cases of depression. This has
been determined by looking at the link between identical twins. Their genetic make-up is exactly
the same so scientists look at the rate of which both identical twins are diagnosed with
depression. From this data, scientist conclude that the risk of someone getting depression is two
to three times higher if they have a parent or sibling with depression compared to the average
person. The rate for the siblings or children of someone with recurrent depression, or depression
that occurs multiple times after symptoms disappear for a while (Mul), is four or five times
higher than the average person. The exact genes that cause depression are unknown, but it is
believed that it is not just due to one gene (Levison MD). This goes to show how complex
depression is. Along with genetic factors that influence depression, there are external or
environmental factors that External or environmental factors have to make up the other 60%.
FarisShe described these other influential factors of the environment being as family, and school,
and gender. My family does not have a history of depression so the likelihood of my sister her
getting depression through genetics is low. This lead to the question of what external factors
impacted my sister that did not so much impact me?
One of the main differences in her environment was that my sister was inabout to enter
high school. High school is a big transitioning time where you figure out who you are alongyour
identity whileith gaining a greater understanding ofdiscovering gender roles and the social
hierarchy that hasve been been created by society. This transition may beis mainly due in part to
two factors, such as, hormones and social media. My sister was starting to mature and hit puberty
at the time of the divorce. The negative effects and emotions from the divorce could have altered
the chemicals in her brain, causing there to be an imbalance. Stressful life events are a cause for
depression (Harvard Health Publications). High school is where youAlso, high school is where

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you begin to find out more about yourself. You find a group of friends find people you fit well
with and, because of societysies influence, aim to be a part of the popular group. The social
pressure that arises from social media and other students can be a lot on someone, especially if
you do not fit into their idea of normal. My sister was never an outcast, but kids can be harsh
to each other about things. With her also going through the emotions of our parents splitting, the
comments friends madke couldcouldve hit a lot harder than they normally would have.
During this time, my sister started to change. She has always slept a lot, but she started
sleeping more. She wouldnt be as active as she used to be and was on social media a lot. She
also became easily irritable. After looking up symptoms of depression, I saw that these were
common in cases of depression. Other symptoms include constant sadness, feelings of
helplessness and worthlessness, low energy, weight changes and thoughts of suicide (NIMH).
Those are just some of the many symptoms.; there are still symptoms that we dont know.
Another cause of depression could be its comoribity. Depression can be comorbid, or coexist,
with other disease, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and Parkinsons disease. The
medications for these disease can cause depression and the disease can worsen the case of
depression or vice versa (Mul).
As I was researching depression, I discovered that the rate of depression in teenage girls
is higher than that of teenage boys (Rattue). This made me question if gender had to do why my
sister was diagnosed with depression. Since depression can be linked with other diseases, maybe
the gender difference lies there. When looking at the rate of heart disease, males have a higher
rate. Heart disease can be related to diabetes. Males used to lead in this area but now as the rates
of diabetes in males is decreasing, the rate for females remains the same. Since depression is
more common in women, the chronicity of the case may be worse for women with diabetes than

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men with diabetes (Gebel PhD). When it comes to diabetes, middle-aged and older adults have a
higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, whereas type 1 diabetes is more common in young
children and young adults. However, with bad habits with health becoming more widespread,
diabetes is starting to affect younger people. A study mentioned in the article suggested that the
number of people under the age of 20 with type 2 diabetes could increase by 49 percent by 2050
(Cherney). For heart disease, it is most common in older men. The risk for men increases after
the age of 45 and the average age for having the first heart attack is 66 (Thompson Jr.). Like the
source mentioned for diabetes, the article is not written by a person with medical credentials;
however, the articles are medically reviewed by people with doctorates.
Cancer is still mysterious with some of the causes. There are known carcinogen, or
factors that influence the likelihood of cancer, but the exact causes are still unknown. There are
many different types of cancer, some only affecting women (cervical cancer) and others only
affecting men (prostate and testicular cancer). Cervical cancer rarely affects women under the
age of 20 and is most commonly diagnosed in women between the ages 35 and 55. This a very
preventable type of cancer since it develops over time and its death rate decreases at about two
percent every year. Tests like PAP smears making the detection earlier, which is essential to
surviving cancer (NCCC). The American Cancer Society states that prostate cancer is the most
common form of cancer in men. ACS provides informative statistics on its website, like how
prostate cancer mainly affects older men, the average age of diagnosis being 66 and that it is the
second leading cause of death in men, behind lung cancer. However, most men who are
diagnosed from it are treated and do not die from it. Contrary to prostate cancer, the American
Cancer Society informs that testicular cancer is not as common and affects mainly middle aged
men (average 33 years old) with 7 percent of cases being in children and teens and 7 percent of

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cases being in men over the age of 55. The death risk from this type of cancer is low. Cancer can
be linked to depression because it a very emotionally traumatizing and stressful situation. Having
advanced cancer and taking certain medications, such as corticosteroids and procarbazine, can
increase the risk of depression (NIH). Also comorbid to depression is Parkinsons disease.
According to the Parkinsons Disease Foundation, about 60% of the people with Parkinsons are
affected by depression. Like most of these disease, this does not really effect young adults, the
average age being 60. Are there other diseases linked with depression that do?
Eating disorders and anxiety disorders are connected with depression and mainly affect
women. The most common eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. A four-year longitudinal
study cited in the article showed that the risk for binge eating is the highest at the age 16 and the
risk for purging is the highest at 18. Mul suggests this is because at these times girls are very
aware of their appearances. She also goes on to describe the great lengths girls will go to be
desired by the opposite sex, but she doesnt give any examples of that. However, she says these
lengths can create severe depressive cognitions. With anxiety disorder, Mul states that
comorbidity between this and depression could lead to the reason why women are more
susceptible to depression than men. She cites Hankin and Abramson (2001), in which they state
that girls develop anxiety disorders earlier and at a faster rate than boys, such that by age 6,
twice as many girls have experienced an anxiety disorder. This statistic stuck out to me because
of the age. Six years old is incredibly young and for girls to already be exposed two times more
likely to a mental disorder is astonishing.
Depression is partially genetic and due to a chemical imbalance in the brain,due to a mix
of factors, one being a chemical imbalance in the bran., so I wanted to look at what things could
cause the imbalance that might only affect girls. Birth control was one of those factors.

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Contraceptives, like birth control,Birth control inserts are inserting hormones into your body,
which could affect the ones that are already in there. Teenagers can be especially sensitive to this
because of their sensitivity to hormonal changes during puberty. The use of contraceptives birth
control could be a reason why the rate is higher in girls, since they have not yet created an
equivalent for men. However, the article that mentions this says that the link could just be
correlation.

From most of the articles I read, social media is mentioned as a source of influence on
depression. The ideas of normal and cool that high schoolers use to classify people haves to
come from somewhere , and that placeone of those places is social media. At the time of my
parents divorce, Facebook and Tumblr were the two big social media sites my sister used
frequently. Since I was not old enough yet (, my parents made me wait until I was 13); .
therefore, I did not experience the influence of social media in the same way my sister did.
Social media is a huge platform that defines the status quo and teenagers are exposed to an
increased expectation to conform to the standards that society sets, specifically girls (Beattle). As
a girl, thereThere are so many outlets and advertisements that create an impossible image of
beauty. Young girls growing up look at these images of beauty and begin to feel that there is
something wrong with them because they do not look that way. This causes girls at young
agegirls to become self-conscious about how they look at a very young age. The faade that
social media accounts portray also affect the way teens view themselves. Social media is a
platformprovides a way for one to present their best self. If someone sees all the great things
other people are doing, they could become depressed and envious as they start to value their
worth based onoff likes and comments on their posts. This aspect of social media I feel affects

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girls more than guys, since girls are taught to care more about their image. Ive even had a guy
friend tell me that if a girl doesnt get more than 200 likes on Instagram, he wouldnt be
interested in her. This thought processes is not a way to describe everyone, but it does show how
there is still that mentality in society on the way a woman should be and act. A survey done
conducted by the Pew Research Center backs up my belief, stating that girls are more likely to
use social media sites and platforms. Society is now changing to where gender roles are
becoming less defined. Social media and video games are becoming less specific to one gender.
If social media is a cause of depression, the difference in the depression rate may decrease if
females and males start using it the same amount. This is very likely since kids are now
immersed in a culture that is heavily influenced by social media.
Not only does social media impact self-image, it also aeffects other influences on
depression,influencing factors that can lead to depression such as sleep and cyberbullying. IM
know my sister would stay up late on social media and be on there for hours. The teenage years
are an important time for social and brain development. Lack of sleep can be detrimental since it
is an important factor for brain development. Another negative of social media that could impact
depression is cyberbullying. People get a sense of being invincible from behind a screen and say
whatever they want without thinking of the consequences. The American College of
Pediatricians has found that over half of adolescents state that they have been bullied online
and over 25% of them state that they have been bullied repeatedly through the internet or on cell
phones. Having someone constantly putting you down and makeking you feel terrible about
yourself on the internet can lead to psychological issues, including depression, anorexia and selfharm. The fear of reject and not being accepted can lead to anxiety disorders, like social phobia
(Mul). These factors would have affected my sister a lot more than me since I was younger than

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she wasnot yet on social media and subjected to this social culture. I was not yet going through
puberty. I was also still in middle school, where everyone was super awkward and social status
was not yet a thing.
Since depression is not a 100% completely genetic, it is likely that the difference in the
rate of depression in teens could be due to how females and males interact differently with their
surroundings. While researching the impact of social media on depression, I began to see and
think about how different genders use social media differently. As mentioned before the research
done by the Pew Research Center said that girls are about 20 percent more likely to use social
media. They also state that boys are about 20 percent more likely to play video games. My step
brothers definitely support this study. They are extremely into video games and did not really get
into social media until last year. My step brothers parents are also divorced but they went
through it at a younger age than my sister and I. Neither of them are diagnosed with depression;
however, they had a lot of violence and behavioral issues at the time, most likely because of the
frustration and hurt from the situation. My sister and I were never really involved with video
games and when my sister was diagnosed, she was using multiple social media sites. Society is
now changing to where gender roles are becoming less defined. Social media and video games
are becoming less specific to one gender. If social media is a cause of depression, the difference
in the depression rate may decrease if females and males start using it the same amount. This is
very likely since kids are now immersed in a culture that is heavily influenced by social media.
The differences sparked another question: Is the rate of depression different in
teenagers based off their gender?After looking at all the external differences that are linked to
depression, I looked into the statistics of it. The SAMHSA Nation Survey on Drug Use and
Health did a study that showed the risk for teenage girls from the ages 12-17 were three times

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higher than that of teenage boys. Another study observed that young women between the ages of
15 and 18 were twice as likely to have depression (Beattle). Although the rate of depression in
teens differs, the chronicity, or how severe the case is, is about the same for teenage boys and
girls (Salk). Depression may affect genders at different rates depending on the age, but it has the
same impact on its victims. My sister was 15 when she was diagnosed. It is amazing how little
things such as social media use and age can be so significant when it comes to depression. Would
it have been different if my sister was a boy? There is no way to know for sure but the risk is
greater as a female. One study suggested in the article by Steingard the possibility that the
difference may be due to past gender roles. Women were mothers and wired to be more
nurturing, whereas, the men were taught to be hunters and provide for their families. Steingard
shuts this possibility down by saying that gender roles are changing more so that both males and
females are providers and caretakers, but the rate of depression has not increased,. meaning that
the changing of gender roles does not affect the risk of depression in females. With depression,
Although the rate of depression in teens differs, the chronicity, or how severe the case is, is about
the same for teenage boys and girls (Salk). Depression may affect genders at different rates
depending on the age, but it has the same impact on its victims. there doesnt seem to be just
reason as to why the rate is higher in teenage girls. I suppose to follows to complexity of the
disorder itself. Scientists are still working on uncovering the mysteries of the disorder, like how
the effectively treat it and the role of monoamines. It has been believed for a long time that
depression is due to a monoamine deficiency. This claim has been challenged as medications to
treat the deficiency are only moderately effective. Scientists are now researching the role of
monoamines in depression in hopes to create more effective medication.

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