Abnormal Psychology: Sociocultural Etiology of MDD

Sociocultural etiology of MDD

Explanation of depression that focuses on social, environmental, and cultural factors that increase vulnerability to the disorder rather than directly causing it

Brown & Harris (1978)

A case study investigating how social stress and vulnerability factors contribute to the onset of depression in women

Vulnerability model of depression

Model proposing that depression results from the interaction between life stressors and individual vulnerability factors

Protective factors

Social or environmental factors that reduce the likelihood of depression when stressful events occur

Examples of protective factors

Strong sense of community, close confiding relationship, family support

Vulnerability factors

Life circumstances that increase the risk of depression when combined with stress

Key vulnerability factors (Brown & Harris)

Early loss of mother, lack of a confiding relationship, unemployment, more than three young children

Provoking agents

Acute or chronic stressors that trigger depressive episodes

Diathesis-stress model

Interactionist model proposing that psychological disorders result from predisposition combined with environmental stress

Limitation of Brown & Harris study

Correlational design and limited generalizability due to sample of women from London

Role of daily hassles

Small, ongoing stressors that may have a greater cumulative impact on mental health than major life events

Holmes & Rahe limitation

Overemphasizes major life events and may underestimate chronic stressors

Sociocultural risk in the elderly

Social isolation, loss of family members, reduced religious participation, and declining social roles

Kivela et al. (1996)

Longitudinal study examining social predictors of depression in elderly Finnish adults

Social predictors for elderly men

Poor marital relationship, early loss of mother, institutionalization

Social predictors for elderly women

Loss of father early in life, low religious participation, declining social activity

Gender differences in sociocultural risk

Social roles and expectations influence how stressors impact men and women differently

Limitation of Kivela et al.

Limited generalizability beyond elderly Finnish populations

Social network theory of depression

Idea that depressive symptoms can spread through social connections

Rosenquist et al. (2011)

Longitudinal analysis showing depressive symptoms spread up to three degrees of separation in social networks

Three degrees of separation

Friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends

Strength of Rosenquist study

High ecological validity using real-life social networks

Limitation of Rosenquist study

Correlational design prevents conclusions about causation

Cultural moderation of depression

Culture shapes how depression is expressed, interpreted, and reported

Etic approach

Using Western diagnostic tools across cultures, often criticized as ethnocentric

Emic approach

Culture-specific understanding of psychological disorders

Parker, Cheah & Roy (2001)

Cross-cultural study comparing symptom reporting in Chinese and Australian patients with depression

Somatization

Expression of psychological distress through physical symptoms

Cultural differences in symptom reporting

Collectivist cultures more likely to report somatic symptoms; individualist cultures report cognitive or mood symptoms

Kirmayer (2001)

Theory of cultural explanatory models for mental distress

Explanatory models

Culturally constructed beliefs about what symptoms mean and how distress should be expressed

Globalization and depression

Westernization may change how depression is understood and expressed in non-Western cultures

Stigma in mental health

Cultural beliefs that discourage disclosure or help-seeking for depression

Reporting bias

Cultural factors influencing whether and how symptoms are reported

Strength of sociocultural explanations

Explain gender and cultural differences and support prevention-focused approaches

Limitation of sociocultural explanations

Do not isolate causal variables and cannot establish cause-and-effect

Interactionist explanation of MDD

Sociocultural stress interacts with biological and cognitive vulnerabilities to produce depression

IB conclusion on sociocultural etiology

Social factors increase vulnerability but do not independently cause Major Depressive Disorder