Sex Differences in the Reporting of Symptoms of Depression in the General Population

The Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) was used in a household interview of 756 citizens of Canabera, Australia to measure affect, psychomotor, physiological and ideational phenomena. Although it has been suggested that the preponderance of women who report depressive symptoms reflects socio-cultural influences based on sex roles, it has been determined that these differences may represent real clinical phenomena which should be empirically investigated.