Gender Differences in the Association between Common Mental Disorders and Regional Deprivation in Ireland

Abstract

This paper aims to add a gender and place perspective to our understanding of depression and anxiety (common mental disorders, CMD) through the use of multilevel models. To date, regional variations in the prevalence of CMD in Ireland have not been explained adequately.Using data from the 2007 Quarterly National Household Survey special module on health and health service utilization, this paper examines whether regional differences in CMD persist after accounting for both individual and regional characteristics. The null model indicated that 2% of the variance in CMDs occurred at the regional level. Including contextual interaction variables the level of variance at the regional level increased to 3.3%. Of specific interest to this paper was the association between place based deprivation and gender on CMD at the regional level. This paper found that whilst regional deprivation alone did not have a significant impact on CMD, the interaction between female and regional relative deprivation was significant. Specifically, this means that women living in more deprived regions tend to have a greater number of CMD.

Sex differences in the association between area deprivation and generalised anxiety disorder: British population study

“…Although other studies have shown that the places where people live have a substantial impact on health, 15 16 studies on the links between area deprivation and mental disorders among men and women, separately are limited. A recent, large, population-based study 18 of over 21 000 people living in Ireland showed that area deprivation was associated with a significantly increased risk for common mental disorders in women, but not in men, after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. In line with this, a study 21 of over 2700 adults living in Canada showed that greater neighbourhood disadvantage also was associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms in women, but not in men.…”

“… 17 Population-based studies further showed that living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods or places where there is high chronic stress can increase the risk for mental disorders, such as depression. 18–20 Whether area deprivation can be used to predict GAD is unknown.…”

“…For example, women are exposed to different stressors compared with men, because of gender differences with respect to social roles. 18 21 …”

A U-shaped association between depression and vigorous physical activity: A cross-sectional study in a cohort of police officers and staff in England

“…Owing to the absence of clinical measures of depression in the Airwave dataset, self-reported depression was used. Regarding the validity of self-reported measures, research has found that self-reported data is a valid method to capture the health outcomes in epidemiology (Morrissey, 2016). As such, self-reported doctor-diagnosed depression is a widely used measure of depression (Bishwajit et al, 2017;Morrissey, 2016).…”

“…Regarding the validity of self-reported measures, research has found that self-reported data is a valid method to capture the health outcomes in epidemiology (Morrissey, 2016). As such, self-reported doctor-diagnosed depression is a widely used measure of depression (Bishwajit et al, 2017;Morrissey, 2016). A police study has also used a self-reported measure of depression to study depression in police officers (Wang et al, 2010).…”