Does a Difference in Sex Correlate to the Relationship Between Stress and Depression?

It is quite well-known that research in depression has presented a difference in risk level between women and men, and the powerful effect that stress can have on a person.  Because it is most commonly believed that women are at a higher risk for depression than men, researchers have become interested in whether or not sex differences have an effect on neurobiological responses to stress. Raegan Mazurka, Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards, and Kate L. Harkness conducted an experiment using the Trier Social Stress Test in both Depressed and Nondepressed adolescents to see if they could spot any neurobiological differences between the sexes while they underwent the stress tests.

Raegan Mazurka and her colleagues studied 111 adolescents ranging from the age of 12 to 18; 53 participants met DSM-IV criteria for a non-bipolar, non-psychotic depressive disorder while the remaining 58 were considered nondepressed. The tests took place over two separate sessions; session 2 taking place the day after session 1. During Session 1, the participants were interviewed and completed a 21-item self-report on depression in order to asses the severity of their symptoms. The participants also answered a 17-item questionnaire about anxious arousal. During the second session, their reactivity to cortisol levels was tested using the Trier Social Stress Test in which the participants to prepare and present a speech and solve challenging math problems in front of strangers, being informed about these tasks only moments before they were asked to complete them (Mazurka, et. al).

The results presented that "in the model of cortisol reactivity, there was no evidence of a main effect of sex or depression status; however, the two-way interaction was significant" (Mazura, et. al). The researchers followed up with these results and found that within the group of adolescents with depression, the boys presented a "significantly greater cortisol reactivity slope" than the girls, and that there was no significant difference between the slops of boys and girls of the nondepressed group. The results of this study, combined with the results of previous studies, show us that depressed women and girls show lower levels of cortisol (hypocortisolemia) whereas depressed men and boys present higher levels of cortisol (hypercortisolemia) in response the the Trier Social Stress Test (Mazurka, et. al).

Mazurka and her colleagues believe that these results are opposite of the common misconception that women and girls are at a higher risk for depression. In fact the results of this study do not correspond with this paradox, but rather indicate that the hyporeactivity of the females may represent the HPA axis, therefore showing that sex should be considered when observing the relationship between depression and stress in humans.

Reference:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2167702617739973