Why are married women more prone to depression?

Question

as opposed to single women?

"Surprisingly, married women have higher rates of depression than their single counterparts."

http://www.helpstartshere.org/Default.aspx?PageID=1047

And/Or answer this...why are married men LESS prone to depression relative to single men?

"Married women have higher rates of depression than unmarried women, but the reverse is true for men."

http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/pwomenanddepress.html

Answer 1

I would doubt on any studies, since studies will tend to validate the opinion of whoever paid for it.

In fact  its legal to may a contract in which the study is not paid if the study does not validate and opinion. This is done frequently by political parties.

That said, let me speculate:

In the case of married woman. I guess is the juggling of work responsibilities and home responsibilities. Specially if there are children. Then they have the super mom syndrome.

It would be interesting to see if stay at home moms have the same level of depression or not. In their case boredom is more an stress factor.

I really doubt of the second study. but supposing that is true. Let me speculate.

A married man does not have the stress of going and looking for a mate to have s*x. So the testosterone does not accumulate much (unless the wife is frigid). High level of testosterone makes us more aggressive (useful for war). But in a society where violence cannot be easily expressed, this means that the man stays with this sentiment. Eventually ending in depression.

Answer 2

Obviously it sucks to be married if you're a woman and sucks to be single if you're a man. I laugh whenever men say marriage is a trap when actually it's a trap for women.

l'm not marrying again...lol

Answer 3

Tracey's observations are correct: greater stress from having to juggle multiple roles with too little help/support.   Another thing, women are more likely to seek help than men - including medical and psychological help.  So its entirely possible that more women are diagnosed because they are better informed about mental illness and seek help.  Its also the case that men and women appear to experience depression differently http://www.psychologymatters.org/mendepr...

People in healthy marriages are happier than those in unhealthy marriages - and unhappy marriages lead to depression.

You wrote: "Surprisingly, married women have higher rates of depression than their single counterparts." but I think this has recently been refuted.  And besides, what about other variables like the presence or absence of children?  Happiness has more to do with the health and quality of the marriage, not simply being married, or not.

*adeline hit the nail on the head: too many uncontrolled variables.

Answer 4

Married men have generally higher health than unmarried men; and married women have worse health than unmarried women.  Men gain a support system in marriage and women's shrink.

Answer 5

because men are selfish

Answer 6

I rhink a lor of married women find themselves in a rut more easily. Get up, get kids off to school, do laundry clean something, go to grocery store, pick up kids at bus stop, make dinner etc. That would make me depressed. Then again it could be Get up, s***w hubby, send him to work, s***w gardener etc. Who knows maybe the day in and day out get to them more and single women have more chance of finding somethign different at the end of the day. I guess the irony is that most of the single women want to be the married women...

Answer 7

Because men are satisfied with just having a woman.

Women expect the world from men and when they don't get it, they think they screwed up and picked the wrong man.

To sum it up. Women have unrealistic expectations about marriage. Men are just happy to have a warm body in the bed.

Single men are more likely to be depressed IF they can't find a woman. There is a difference between a man who is single because he WANTS to be (me) and a man who can't get a girl if his life depended on it.

Answer 8

Worlds Shortest Fairytale  [[TWO VERSIONS]]

1.  Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, 'Will you marry me?' The gal said 'No' and she lived happily ever after and went shopping, drank margaritas with friends, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had a closet full of shoes and handbags, stayed skinny, and was never farted on.

The End

2.  Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl 'Will you marry me?' The girl said:  'NO!' And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, ate chocolate, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever the h**l she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat,  traveled more, had many lovers, didn't save money, and had all the hot water to herself. She went to the theater, never watched sports, never wore friggin' lacy lingerie that went up her ***, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants.

The End.

Answer 9

Don't know. Women are still stuck with most of the childcare, elder care and housework, despite working the same hours as men. Perhaps it's the emotional drain of the daily grind that gets to them, whereas single women can come home, pour a glass of wine and lay on the couch and read a book. (Doesn't that sound fabulous?)

Answer 10

ahh!  ball and chain...thats y

Answer 11

I don't trust any sociological study. They are always subjective. Considering the first link where the story was written by a woman at least in her middle 30's and single there might be a bias against marriage.

I think a more accurate study would involve not the marital status of a woman, but if they are mothers or not, their social class, and their race. This is a secular attack on marriage. To readdress the subjectivity of sociological studies I have this....http://www.freeteensusa.org/debunking_my... & http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_4_wh... .

It depends on what you want to support determines which subjective study you go to. It is all based on the individual on whether you should marry or not and subjective junk studies aren't necessary. They don't need to scare people out of marriage or pressure them into it.

Answer 12

you are correct and it is something of concern to the "family."

it may be accidental or there may be a reason, and i am of the school that everything has a reason behind it.

Answer 13

well the truth of a single women feels better from going places when they like too,meet more then most married women  do out at places, as well not stuck onto all they have to cover from a family they had a responsibility of..bills to work on helping all involved in the home,clothes to cover for kids..meds if they are sick,running them everywhere..cooking washing,cleaning all for the whole family,possible as well more to watch other then their own,to taking out the old man helping hands to sit out side, to do nothing but wait until the wife covers the trash to take out too.as well maybe a allot of his sad times hurt her from seeing him hurt ,too heated words told to her over his bad days,same for the kids..plus being a nurse ,doctor for the whole time one is sick with no sleep.. then hope to get in a tub to relax if possible there too..in till they get the night done....while single it is about freedom to go where when you wish,you need to not worry what someone else thinks at all ,,you do as you wish.without caring what one says or just go fun places meet more people if you like too..while married men mostly sit around having a woman talk to the bill collectors,tend to kids,switch the TV channels all the time waiting for food,s*x,bed to sleep...they have it made..single men has to deal with what we do so they pout of all it takes to live like we have to ..now you get it!!!

Answer 14

I guess that also depends upon the woman and whether or not she fills her head with thoughts of "if only...." Now, there's a one way ticket to depression.

Been married for 24 years; 5 kids and not once have I, well; once post-part um, which only lasted ten minutes, ever been depressed.  Life is a challenge; an entertaining challenge at that; it should leave no time for thoughts of depression.

Answer 15

The effect of marital status on depression is neither consistent nor sizable, and the cited differential effect between the sexes is typically based on inequivalent  comparisons (e.g., "women in UNHAPPY marriages" vs. "married" men).

Even given reliable and valid results, potential explanations would be numerous, varied, and mediated by a multitude of other factors.

Supposing consistency in similar measures, important variables to consider would be "perceived level of control" and "spousal encouragement of obtaining medical services."

i apologize if approaching the question from a scientific perspective sucks out any of the fun of speculation.

June 12:  Ha! - you are right, Violet.  I do sound like a pompous snit!  I was ticked off to a tee b/c our library's New & Improved search engine cleverly parries all my attempts to access a journal, research a subject, find an author, or even direct me to an article when I enter complete reference with ribbons and bows.  

That supercilious-sounding last sentence was not directed towards you -- it was a snarl at my computer for sucking out all the fun I'd hoped to have with your great topic.  Coming up with switches in directionality of causation and a web of possible triggers is a blast  -- and this correlation is much more subtle than lots of flagrant fallacies currently being crowed about (e.g., People who have frequent loving sexual relations are healthier and happier than those who don't; therefore, people just need to start having frequent loving sexual relations to improve their health and happiness.)

I was so annoyed when I couldn't confirm the data cited in the APA briefing sheet or determine whether comparable s*x differences can still be distinguished 18 years later.  I found Ellen McGrath’s self-help books on amazon.com but couldn’t access any journal articles by her.  So I didn’t have the data to base an argument on.  Glum.

I did write the page editor on the APA brief sheet asking that she ease my frustration by directing me to the relevant data, including any references more recent than the 12-year-old sources cited.  Haven’t heard back yet.

I did want to apologize for a certain snarky tone, though, and to assure you that it was in no way directed at you.

Come to think of it, however, I wouldn’t have dealt with so much frustration if you hadn’t asked such an interesting question.

Hmmm…

Answer 16

They probably feel trapped.

Answer 17

I'm not sure. Maybe it's the pressures they place upon themselves to be the perfect wife and mother, along with climbing the economic ladder.