That is, the proportion of individuals with a diagnosis of major depression was approximately twice as large in female samples compared with male samples, on average. A recent meta-analysis indicated that this observation holds true across different nations and estimated an odds ratio of 1.95 for gender differences in diagnoses of major depression 16. Most studies have found higher rates of depression among female participants compared to male participants 12, 13, 14, 15. One common observation about depression and neuroticism is the sex difference in their prevalence. Consequently, there is much to gain from investigating how depressed or neurotic individuals differ from non-depressed or less neurotic individuals, as this may improve our understanding of the etiology of depression and mental disorders in general. While neuroticism has often been used as a predictor of other outcomes, less is known about the causes of individual differences in neuroticism. In fact, neuroticism has been labeled as an efficient marker of risk for developing psychopathology 11. Furthermore, the vulnerability model proposes that personality traits can contribute to the development of disorders and that one may use personality scores to predict the likelihood of developing certain conditions in the future 9. For example, the association may partly reflect shared roots and conceptual overlap between constructs 9. It is likely that several mechanisms explain the association between neuroticism and mental illness. Neuroticism has been related to depression and other mental disorders in multiple reviews and meta-analyses 8, 9, 10. Of similar importance to public health is the personality construct neuroticism, a factor in the five-factor model of personality which is characterized by negative affect and the disturbed thoughts and behaviors associated with emotional distress 7. Given their consequences, it is unsurprising that mood disorders (including depressive disorders) cause the highest societal costs of all mental disorders in the European Union 6. It is also a predictor of negative physical health outcomes such as coronary heart disease 4 and obesity 5. Among countless negative effects on health, depression significantly impairs psycho-social functioning 2 and may be a risk factor for other mental disorders such as dementia 3. Our findings suggest that the 2D:4D ratio is not a relevant predictor of depression, while there was mixed evidence in the case of neuroticism.ĭepressive disorders are among the leading causes of years lived with disability in the world 1. However, additional analyses indicated that these results may have been spurious due to confounding. Controlling for biological sex, we only found suggestive evidence for linear associations with neuroticism in the case of left hand 2D:4D ratios and the mean 2D:4D of both hands. It was hypothesized that a higher 2D:4D (supposedly representing a more “feminine” prenatal hormone exposure) would positively predict (1) one’s history of depression as well as (2) neuroticism rates and (3) acute depressive symptom scores. The aim of the present study is to test the suggested associations between depression, neuroticism and the 2D:4D ratio in a large, representative sample of over 3,000 German individuals. However, the sample sizes of those studies were mostly small and results remained inconclusive. Numerous studies have investigated the role of prenatal sex hormone exposure in this sex difference, using the ratio between the second and fourth digit of the hand (“2D:4D”) as a putative marker. A body of literature reports higher rates of depression and neuroticism in female samples compared to male samples.
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