Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 28, 1990                   TAG: 9005280004
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: DANIEL GOLEMAN THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GIRLS ARE PRONE TO DEPRESSION OVER THEIR LOOKS, STUDIES SHOW

The higher rate of depression persists through adolescence and into adulthood, at which point women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed as depressed.

Worry about their bodies is one reason adolescence is more emotionally stressful for girls than for boys, says a study of 802 high school students by Betty Merten and Peter Lewinsohn, psychologists at the Oregon Research Institute in Portland.

A report on that study appears in the current Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

"If adolescent girls felt as physically attractive and generally good about themselves as boys their age do, they would not experience so much depression," Lewinsohn said.

Although depression rates before puberty are the same in boys and girls, "at around age 12 girls start to have higher rates," said Dr. Myrna Weissman, a psychiatric epidemiologist at Columbia University.

A study of 1,700 high school students by Lewinsohn, not yet published, found that from age 14, the rate for depression in girls was twice that of boys.

He found that 1.7 percent of the boys and 3.9 percent of the girls were currently depressed.

A study of psychiatric disorders among 5,596 high school students, published in the current Archives of General Psychiatry, found that 9 percent suffered from mild or severe depression, either currently or in the past.

It was the most prevalent emotional disturbance of all.

"Girls have higher rates of both mild and major depression than do boys," said Dr. Agnes Whitaker, a psychiatrist at Columbia University, who did the study.

Studies of all youths, not just those still in school, have found even higher overall rates of depression.

The new findings are part of a concentrated scientific effort to understand the roots of depression in early life.

Researchers hope the studies will lead to new ways to head off depression or treat it more effectively in children and adolescents.

Innovative methods for treating depressed children, being evaluated now, are already showing promise.

"I think that adolescent girls' preoccupation with how they look accounts for much of the jump in depression for girls at puberty," said Merten. "Body image is a huge part of how girls think of themselves and of their self-worth."

The study by Merten and Lewinsohn is the first to offer direct evidence that girls' feelings about their appearance predisposes them to getting depressed.

Those who reported low self-esteem because of worries about appearance were more likely to report depression a month later.

Apart from this added pressure for girls, there were no major differences in the causes of depression for boys and girls.