Gender differences in hostility among depressed and medical outpatients

We assessed possible gender differences in state and trait hostility in a large sample of depressed outpatients and in a group of medical outpatients. We administered the Cook and Medley Hostility Scale, measuring trait hostility and aggressiveness, and the Symptom Questionnaire, including a state measure of irritability and hostility, to 218 depressed outpatients and 51 medical outpatients. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between severity of depression and our state measure of hostility, and a weak, although statistically significant, relationship between severity of depression and total score of our trait measure of hostility. Among depressed outpatients, trait hostility was greater in men than in women, while no significant gender difference was observed in state hostility. Among medical outpatients, the state hostility scale scores were significantly higher in men than in women. These gender differences in both groups remained significant even after adjusting for severity of depression. Thus, it appears that men with depression tend to have higher scores than women on state and trait measures of hostility, suggesting that men may be at greater risk than women of developing patterns of pathologic aggression and hostile behavior.