A comparison of depressive symptoms in African Americans and Caucasian Americans

The study examined group differences in depressive symptomatology on the Beck Depression Inventory in 278 African Americans and 278 Caucasian Americans seeking psychotherapy. Relative to Caucasian Amer-icans, African Americans reported less pessimism, dissatisfaction, self-blame, and suicidal ideation and more sense of punishment and weight change, but for reasons unrelated to depression. Self-dislike was a stronger manifestation of depression in Caucasian Americans, and sleep disturbance, loss of appetite, and loss of libido were stronger manifestations of depression in African Americans. Group differences were not accounted for by gender, marital status, age, or education. The study contributes to the understanding of sociocultural variants of self-reported depression by distinguishing different ways in which symptomatology may differ. During the past two decades, there has been an increasing recognition of the role that sociocultural factors play in the etiology, manifestation, course, prognosis, and prevalence of mental illness (Kleinman, 1977; Marsella, 1980; Sartorius, 1973). Numerous demographic variables have been suggested as possible moderators to account for variations in depressive symptomatology. Level of Westernization often has been associated with variations in the manifestation of depression. People from Western cultures are said to psychologize thei