IB Psychology 3.1 Health and Well-being Questionbank

Brown and Harris investigated the social factors that make depression more likely in women. They interviewed a large sample of women in a district of London about recent stressful life events and their social circumstances, and assessed who had become depressed. Depression was much more common in women who had experienced a severe life event or major difficulty. Certain 'vulnerability factors' increased the risk that such events would lead to depression: lacking a close confiding relationship, having several young children at home, not working outside the home, and the loss of one's own mother in childhood. The researchers concluded that depression in women arises from an interaction between provoking life events and social vulnerability factors.

References: Brown, G. W. and Harris, T., 1978. Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock. source adapted.