A new study suggests that the wage gap may contribute to a higher incidence of depression among working women than men. The excerpt below from NeuroscienceNews.com shares some of the information reported in the study, and we thought it was worth sharing here. If you’re a woman in Northeast Ohio who has experienced depression or generalized anxiety, you may recognize yourself in this article, and we hope you’ll contact us for more information on depression and evaluating and treating it.
The odds of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were markedly greater among women who earned less than their male counterparts, with whom they were matched on education and years of experience, according to new research conducted at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Results of the study are online in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
The odds that an American woman was diagnosed with depression in the past year are nearly twice that of men. However, this disparity looks very different when accounting for the wage gap: Among women whose income was lower than their male counterparts, the odds of major depression were nearly 2.5 times higher than men; but among women whose income equaled or exceeded their male counterparts, their odds of depression were no different than men.
Results were similar for generalized anxiety disorder. Overall, women’s odds of past-year axiety were more than 2.5 times higher than men’s. Where women’s incomes were lower than their male counterparts, their odds of anxiety disorder were more than four times higher. For women whose income equaled or exceeded their male counterparts, their odds of anxiety disorder were greatly decreased.
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