Gender differences in affective suffering among racial/ethnically diverse, community-dwelling elders.

Objective. Copious research shows a female excess of unipolar depression. The generalizability of this finding is examined in a racial/ethnically diverse, community-residing, elder sample. Design. Depressive suffering was assessed both categorically and linearly with the Index of Affective Suffering (IAS), a hierarchal measure designed to examine intensity and extensity of suffering. In-home interviews by specially trained raters also collected demographic, functional, and social health data. Prevalence rates of affective suffering were examined separately for Latinos (N=996, Females=46.8%), Blacks (N=717, Females=36.5%), and Whites (N=415, Females=18.6%). Results. Analyzed by gender alone these data support the typical wisdom that females report significantly more depressed affect than males. However, by racial/ethnic group categorical analysis indicates that among Whites and Latinos, women reported more symptoms of clinically significant affective suffering than males; whereas, among Blacks, women and men did not differ from each other. Moreover, risk factors commonly associated with excess female depression failed to explain observed differences. Conclusion. The absence of a between-gender difference in affective suffering observed among Black elders in this study raises questions about generalized assumptions of greater 'female' vulnerability for this age group. A need for research to appreciate the heterogeneity of elder individuals is highlighted as is the importance of using dimensional assessment techniques in psychiatric epidemiology.