Social and Cultural Factors
Sociocultural factors contributing to depression includes:
1. Stress
2. Individualism and Collectivism
STRESS
Stressful life events can trigger depression. When your brain signals that there is stress, it produces a stress response. The hypothalamus secretes the corticotropin-releasing hormone, or the CRH, which then makes the pituitary gland secrete the adrenocorticotropic hormone, or the ACTH. The ACTH triggers the release of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol produces the “fight or flight” response. In depressed people, the cortisol level remains high most of the time. Therefore traumas definitely contribute to depression (Miller).
Influencers of traumas can include:
Loss of a loved one
Childhood trauma
Unemployment
Lacking a good relationship
Social class
etc.
Which Brown and Harris (1978) had supported this with a research that found that women with kids in the middle class are less likely to be depressed than women with kids in the working class.
Influencers of traumas can include:
Loss of a loved one
Childhood trauma
Unemployment
Lacking a good relationship
Social class
etc.
Which Brown and Harris (1978) had supported this with a research that found that women with kids in the middle class are less likely to be depressed than women with kids in the working class.
INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM
Moreover, a study by Chiao and Blizinsky (2009) suggests that collectivist cultures are more likely to risk depression than individualist cultures. This has to do with the serotonin transporter functional polymorphism gene (5-HTTLPR). Collectivist people carry more of the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR. So it’s the result of the coevolution of reproducing massively in a limited culture.
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/6/5/14656030/5981128_orig.gif?1)
Source: Go Too Far East
Bibliography
Beattie, Gregory S. "Social Causes of Depression." Great Ideas in Personality--Theory and Research. N.p., n.d.
Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/beattie.html>.
Chiao, Joan Y., and Katherine D. Blizinsky. "Culture–gene Coevolution of Individualism–collectivism and the
Serotonin Transporter Gene." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277 (2009): 529-37.
PubMed. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842692/>.
Miller, Michael Craig, M.D., ed. Understanding Depression. Rep. N.p.: Harvard Health Publications, 2011.
What Causes Depression? Harvard Health Publications. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression-2.htm>.
Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/beattie.html>.
Chiao, Joan Y., and Katherine D. Blizinsky. "Culture–gene Coevolution of Individualism–collectivism and the
Serotonin Transporter Gene." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277 (2009): 529-37.
PubMed. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842692/>.
Miller, Michael Craig, M.D., ed. Understanding Depression. Rep. N.p.: Harvard Health Publications, 2011.
What Causes Depression? Harvard Health Publications. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression-2.htm>.