A cross-cultural comparative study of depressive symptoms in British and Turkish clinical samples

A cross-cultural comparison of the symptomatology of depression in Britain and Turkey was conducted in outpatient samples selected according to the same criteria, and matched for age, sex and severity; the same standardized rating instruments were also used with each sample. Comparison of the frequency and severity of individual symptoms showed higher mean ratings in the British sample for core depressive symptoms and higher ratings in the Turkish sample for symptoms reflecting somatization and a tendency to emphasize symptoms. Principal component analysis produced similar dimensions, confirmed after factor rotation, but the principal components emerged in a different order, reflecting differing contributions to the variance. In the Turkish sample, the first, general component, accounting for the greatest variance, was the somatization factor, while in the British sample it was the component that reflects core depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that there are some similarities in the symptoms of depression in the two cultures, but also differences in their predominant mode of expression.