Social support may stave off depression in women

Feeling loved and supported by family and friends appears to protect women - but not men - from major Depression, new research reports.

In a study of more than 1,000 opposite sex twin pairs, investigators found that women who felt they had relatively little social support had a higher risk of major Depression, a condition that affects women more than men. The perception of social support had a much smaller influence on men's risk of Depression, the authors report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Lead author Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler said that women are "often socialized to develop their sense of self from their relationships or the quality of their relationships." As a result, when women feel that their relationships are poor, this has an enormous influence on their emotional well being, he noted. "The effect on women is pretty potent," he told AMN Health.

Men, in contrast, may often derive their sense of self worth from their achievements, such as doing well at work or in certain activities, said Kendler.

Despite this gender difference, Kendler said he was "surprised" to see that social relationships had such little effect on men. "Men really seem to be impervious (to a lack of social support), with respect to depression," he said.

During the study, Kendler and his colleagues at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond interviewed 1,057 pairs of opposite sex twins about their sense of social support. The researchers re-contacted the twins at least 1 year later, to determine whether or not they were depressed.

To assess levels of social support, the investigators asked men and women how much they felt family and friends listened to them, understood their feelings, and helped them out if they needed it.

The investigators found that women reported having higher levels of overall social support than men did. However, men felt more supported by their spouses and co-twins.

Kendler noted that support from family and spouses appeared to mean somewhat more to women than support from friends.

"It is a deep human need to be loved and cared for," Kendler said. "Our mental health will not do well if we're in an environment where our needs are not being filled."

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, February 2005.