“My Greatest Dream is to be Normal”: The Impact of Gender on the Depression Narratives of Young Swedish Men and Women

2010/12/13 by Ulla Danielsson, Carita Bengs, Eva Samuelsson +1 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Early Childhood Education and Development #Family Support in Illness

paper · doi:10.1177/1049732310391272

openalex publication_date 2010/12/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

Depression is common among young people. Gender differences in diagnosing depression appear during adolescence. The study aim was to explore the impact of gender on depression in young Swedish men and women. Grounded theory was used to analyze interviews with 23 young people aged 17 to 25 years who had been diagnosed with depression. Their narratives were marked by a striving to be normal and disclosed strong gender stereotypes, constructed in interaction with parents, friends, and the media. Gender norms were upheld by feelings of shame, and restricted the acting space of our informants. However, we also found transgressions of these gender norms. Primary health care workers could encourage young men to open up emotionally and communicate their personal distress, and young women to be daring and assertive of their own strengths, so that both genders might gain access to the positive coping strategies practiced respectively by each.

Citations

• The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence.
• Gender differences in unipolar depression: an update of epidemiological findings and possible explanations
• Gender differences in depression
• Puberty and depression: the roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing

Cited by

• Depression in childhood and adolescence [wikipedia]

Related

• Gender differences in depression
• Gender Differences in Depression: Biological, Affective, Cognitive, and Sociocultural Factors
• Adolescent Gender-Role Identity and Mental Health: Gender Intensification Revisited
• Capturing subjective experiences of atypical depression: qualitative investigation of perceived aetiological factors and gender influences
• Gender differences in depression in representative national samples: Meta-analyses of diagnoses and symptoms.