Life Events and the Phenotypic Expression of Depression in Men

Depression is a prevalent and debilitating condition that is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. An abundance of depression research has focused primarily on women. Men, in contrast, have been astonishingly absent from research but are critical for a complete understanding of depression The present research comprised three studies designed to investigate the etiology and phenotypic expression of depression in men. Participants included 401 emerging adults, nearly equally divided among men and women, who completed a gold-standard assessment of stressful life events; self-reported measures of typical depressive symptoms, externalizing behaviors, and alcohol use; and investigator-based assessments of typical depressive symptoms and alcohol abuse. Results indicated that (1) the experience of a Severe life event predicts increases in typical depressive symptoms for both men and women, (2) a male-based model of depressive symptoms, which included indicators of depressed mood, social isolation, and alcohol abuse, best reflected the latent structure of depressive symptoms for both men and women, and (3) the experience of a Severe life event still predicted elevations in depressive symptoms even when only the core of symptoms identified in Study 2 were included. These results suggest that the well-documented association between stressful life events and depression also applies to men, and that the current definition of depression may include extraneous symptoms that distract from the true core of depression. The implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.