Abstract
This study used an untreated sample of husbands and wives to investigate the effect of a wife's employment status on her spouse's depression score. A consistency between attitudes toward appropriate sex-role behavior and actual situation was expected to enhance mental well-being. Data demonstrate that when a measure of sex-role attitudes was paired with situation, it was a significant indicator of depression scores for unemployed females. Housewives with liberal views toward sex roles felt more restricted and were more depressed than were traditional housewives. Sex-role orientation was not effective in explaining depression scores for working wives or for husbands in the sample. The findings emphasize the necessity for examining the impact of sex-role orientation on depression both by sex and by situation.
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Kingery, D.W. Are sex-role attitudes useful in explaining male/female differences in rates of depression?. Sex Roles 12, 627–636 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288182