Sex-typical symptoms of depression and the importance of conditioning contexts in Austria

Abstract

Background: Findings regarding the effect of sex on depression are inconclusive. The aim of this paper is to contribute to clarification concerning this effect by first disentangle the concept of depression and splitting it up into two sub-types. Second, we will address macro-level contexts as conditions of the sex-effect on depression.Methods: This study gives a comparative analysis of sex as a predictor of depression symptoms in various Austrian federal states. It offers a secondary data analysis of data collected from an online survey (CAWI) conducted in Austria as a quota sample of Austrian inhabitants (N=1229). Besides sex as a predictor of depression symptoms (measured by PHQ-9 items) we also consider four dimensions of social support, the retirement status, and the experience of a vocational gratification crisis.Results: By and large, sex is not associated with motivational deficit symptoms, but rather with somatic stress symptoms. Taking into account federal states as conditions, the sex-effect on depression symptoms turn out to be context-dependent.Limitations: Using some items from the PHQ-9 inventory for measuring depression symptoms was arbitrary, findings could be sensitive to operationalization. Furthermore, Austrian federal states are no substantial variables which could condition the sex-effect directly. The actual conditioning variables correlate with the Austrian federal states, but remain unobserved here. Conclusions: Depression symptoms are partly sex-typical, but this association is context-dependent. For diagnostics, therefore, the recommendation arises to take symptomatic sub-types of depression into account, instead of an in itself heterogeneous construct that expresses itself differently under certain conditions.