Although epidemiological data have documented sex differences in depression, the nature and origins of the differences are unclear. Depression in a large sample of young, unmarried college students was measured and described by the Beck Depression Inventory. Considers the consequences of sex differences in depressive responses, including…

It was hypothesized that because of differential social learning, females would report fear of spiders more frequently than males would but that males selected for equal self-report of fear would show greater autonomic responsivity than women to slides of spiders. (Editor)