Gender matters for daily depression: Symptom fluctuations and links to self-expression

Depression is a global health burden, disproportionately affecting women. A lack of contextual, real-life assessments considering the oft-gendered context (e.g., expression) of daily symptom fluctuations may contribute to this disparity. The current study examines: a) gender differences in daily depressive symptoms - and fluctuations; and b) daily links between self-perceived gender expression and depressive symptoms.

Established adults (N = 96; M = 28.19, SD = 8.43) participated in an ecologically-valid multi-wave 100-day intensive longitudinal study. They reported daily on their depressive symptoms, and on their self-expression in the final study wave. Gender differences in daily symptoms fluctuations (intraindividual standard deviations) and their links to gender expression (person-specific residualized correlations) were examined.

Women experienced greater day-to-day symptom fluctuations than men, after accounting for the gender difference in baseline symptoms (b = -0.05; 95 % CI: [-0.093, -0.012]). Results from a subsample (n = 28) showed that daily links between gender expression and depressive symptoms were heterogeneous: For 38.5 % of men and 53.3 % of women, daily increases in congruent gender expressions (i.e., masculine for men and feminine for women) corresponded with daily symptom decreases, but many individuals (46.4 %) did not show meaningful relations.

Results highlight the utility of intensive longitudinal approaches for the study of depression and, for some people, the daily psychological relations with gender self-perceptions. Results also emphasize heterogeneity in depression etiology and the need for personalized basic and applied science.

Future research on individuals with varying gender identities and clinical experiences is needed.