Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Protocol for Studying Extinction of Conditioned Fear in Naturally Cycling Female Rats
Published on: February 23, 2015
Sex differences and adolescent depression
B Allgood-Merten1, P M Lewinsohn, H Hops
1Oregon Research Institute, Eugene 97403.
Abstract:
This study investigates the role of certain psychosocial variables--sex, age, body image/self-esteem, self-consciousness, stressful life events, and the degree to which an individual identifies with the cultural stereotype of masculinity--as correlates and antecedents to depression in adolescents and explores possible intraindividual mediators of the stress-depression relationship in adolescents. A battery of self-report measures was administered to public high school students in Grades 9-12 in their classrooms at two different times 1 month apart. Female adolescents reported more depressive symptoms, self-consciousness, stressful recent events, feminine attributes, and negative body image and self-esteem; no age effects were obtained. Results suggest a model of adolescent depression in which body/self-esteem and stressful recent events are significant contributors.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Depressive Disorders: Etiology
Biological Factors in Depression
Biological predispositions significantly influence the risk of developing depressive disorders. Genetic studies highlight the role of variations in the serotonin transporter...
Self-Discrepancy and Its Effects
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience

