The effect of age on gender differences in the psychological distress ratings of immigrants

✍ Scribed by Ritsner, Michael ;Ponizovsky, Alexander ;Ginath, Yigal

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 104 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0748-8386
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1700(199901)15:1<17::aid-smi781>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

Gender dierences in psychological distress were examined to test the eect of age and other sociodemographic variables on a well-known phenomenon of higher ratings of psychological symptoms in women. Levels and symptoms of psychological distress were assessed using the 24-item self-administered scale of the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory (TBDI) in a representative community sample of 1953 adult Russian-born Jewish immigrants to Israel. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the eects of sociodemographic variables on gender dierences in psychological distress and symptomatology. Substantial gender dierences were found in the overall level of psychological distress, with greater distress reported by females than by males. The phenomenon of gender dierence depended largely on age, with greater dierences found in middle-aged immigrants. Expression of most symptoms (except paranoid ideation) was greater among females than males, but these dierences disappeared dierentially with age for dierent symptoms: gender dierences in hostility disappeared after 40 years of age, in obsessiveness and sensitivity after 50 and in depression after 60. Gender dierences in anxiety remained consistent over age. Multivariate analysis con®rmed these ®ndings and, in addition, showed that gender interacted with length of immigration factor within the fourth decade and with family composition factor within the sixth decade of the lifespan. These ®ndings support our contention that gender dierence in the expression of most distress symptoms is an age-dependent phenomenon. The possible determinants of the gender dierences in psychological distress are discussed.