Family size and depressive symptoms in orthodox Jewish women.

Family size, religiosity and contextually-assessed stress were examined in relation to 11 symptoms of depression in Jewish women. Some indices of family size related to the absence of some symptoms. Notably, having pre-adult children was associated with absence of hopelessness. Religiosity and family size were highly confounded but the effects of the two did differ. Religiosity related to the absence of several symptoms: these were generally different from the symptoms associated with low family size. The data show that the associations between family size and religiosity, and depressive symptoms, cannot be explained in terms of lowered levels of stress.