Women at the top more likely than men to be depressed

It's lonely at the top. Or at least it is for women. A new study suggests holding a position of power, with heavy tasks increases the symptoms of depression in women but decreased in men.

"Women in the Authority's work - the ability to hire, fire and pay influences - are far more depressive symptoms than women without this power," the lead author of the study Tetyana Pudrovska Pudrovska sociologist. at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a press release. "In contrast, men who work to have fewer symptoms of depression than men without such power."

Pudrovska and collaborators Amelia Karraker, assistant professor of development studies and family rights at Iowa State University, conducted the study with data on mental health and the 1954-2004 Authority collected as part of the longitudinal Study of Wisconsin.

The authors of the study state to allow social and cultural norms for men positions seamless power to assume. According to them, a man in power is to be expected and peers, colleagues and subordinates accepted - by those who seek it and outside.

However, Pudrovska says, previous studies have shown women in positions of power regularly experience "interpersonal tensions, negative social interactions, negative stereotypes, prejudice, social isolation but also the resistance of subordinates, peers and superiors. "

The weight of these stressors and stress leads to an upward trend in depressive symptoms, with women in power to have symptoms of depression more often than men in positions of power. In addition, men were less likely to be depressed in positions of power.

The study was conducted with the financial support of the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Aging. The results were published in the Journal of health and social behavior.