Explaining the depression shift

[differenceblog]

As previously discussed (see "Boys don't cry" 8/30/06), before puberty, boys are more likely to be depressed than girls. Interestingly, Broderick and Korteland (2004) found that the highest depression scores in their sample of 4th through 6th graders were in the most masculine and feminine groups, and lower in the more androgynous children.

Comments

[hrafn]

I am under the impression that once girls hit puberty, they start having to deal with more sexual harassment (and maybe more sexism in general?) than they did before they had breasts, and more pressure in general to conform to very particular beauty standards, and societal expectations about relationships with boys, etc. And that these expectations are directed much more at girls than boys. I base this mostly on what I've read on other blogs, especially things written by women who were either overweight in their teens, or who developed large breasts early on. For a recent example, this article (obese girls more likely to skip college than thinner girls) has gotten some coverage on a couple of the blogs I read (example 1, example 2). However, obesity doesn't seem to affect boys' decisions to go to college or not.

[differenceblog]

That's exactly the sort of evidence that I hadn't seen, and I'm definitely going to have to take a look at it. I hadn't really thought about the sexual component (possibly a first for me).

[hrafn]

Now that I've been awake for a couple hours - the whole noxious Purity Ball/chastity rings/whatever phenomena is directed entirely at girls; there's really nothing comparable directed by the fundies towards their male children. And while at that extreme it seems to be mostly within a specific religious culture, I am sure the same double standard is everywhere, just not quite as blatantly.

Another thing I remember reading about recently is that teenage girls (at least in certain socioeconomic groups) are now feeling pressure to not only be perfectly beautiful, but also to be high achievers in terms of academics - pressure to get into good colleges, which means being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, in addition to good grades. Like the Purity Balls, I don't know if there has been good -research- done on it.

[differenceblog]

In terms of the over-achievement thing, I think you're talking about the "Perfect Girls" discussions, largely being spearheaded by Courtney Martin (author of Perfect Girls; Starving Daughters). Does that sound like what you're referring to?

I hadn't thought of the Purity Balls, either. I think I've mentioned before that I hadn't really internalized the cultural female "responsibility" to chastity, or even really been aware of it consciously until my mid-twenties. I keep forgetting about that bit.

[ukelele]

I suspect girls and boys are under different types of interpersonal stress -- eg girls playing more elaborate cliquey backstabbing games, boys facing more physical violence. Certainly the social dynamic in an all-boys school is at times very weird and alien to me, despite the fact that I hung out in predominantly male social circles; and I think even in coed environments people spend some of their social time in single-sex circles, and certainly subject to sex-linked social expectations. (For instance, the male coaches at my school expect boys to play through and shrug off pain to a much greater extent than I find humane; that's an expectation that is likely to be present in the all-male environment of a sports team within a coed school too, I bet

[differenceblog]

our experiences of sex and gender were not the norm. ;) (Yours especially!)

That's entirely fair. Thank you for the insight into all-male childhood environments, something I only really saw as a Cub Scout day camp advisor (which was Bizarro World in its own right).

[differenceblog]

hm, interesting. I have no perspective on what it's like to grow up in a Christian household (or even a gender-role-strict household) so this is fascinating and a little creepy to me.