The Relationship Between Gender, Coping, and Hemispheric Asymmetry in a Depressed Mood State
Date
2001
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Psychology
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Haverford users only
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
Though the greater incidence of depression in women has been highly documented, researchers have rarely studied an association between a cognitive and a biological factor in relation to the gender difference in depression. The present study, however, attempted to correct for this problem and hypothesized that there was a relationship between gender, coping style, and hemispheric activation. Participants were induced into a depressed mood through a film clip and were asked to select either an emotional (ruminative) or non-emotional (distractive) task to be completed later. They were then presented with a set of emotion chimeric faces and a set of gender chimeric faces and were asked to indicate which face they saw as happier/more feminine, thus indicating their visual field bias and subsequent hemispheric activation. They completed the Response Styles Questionnaire to provide a second assessment of coping style. Results indicated that there was no sex difference in coping style, although this lack of effects may arise from poor coping style measures. However, a significant interaction suggested that females who distract (the opposite style of rumination) had an asymmetry pattern that was the inverse of what we expected for rumination. Thus, the general concept that coping style differentially associates with gender and asymmetry was supported and in the expected direction, although on the unexpected dimension (i.e. distraction). These results have implications for the study of gender differences in depression and possibilities for future research are discussed.