evolutionary significance of emotions !!

[Larisa Migachyov]

Nick Medford wrote:
>  In article <89mutv$edj$1 at nntp.Stanford.EDU>, Larisa Migachyov
>  <lvm at Stanford.EDU> writes
> >sisial wrote:
> >
> >>  (Estimates for lifetime risk of developing severe depression is, I believe,
> >>  around 8% in females and 0.3% in males. 
> >
> >This sentence caught my eye,

>  Good thing too- it didn't catch mine and I let it go unchallenged.

> > and I apologize for deviating completely from
> >the topic.  Has anyone investigated why the risk of depression in women is
> >25 times greater than that in men?  

>  No, because it isn't. Lifetime prevalence for depression is generally quoted at
>  2.5 - 4.5% for men and 5 - 9% (i.e. roughly twice as high) for women. Peak
>  age of onset is in the 30s for women and in the 40s for men. 

>  One factor that contributes to the increased prevalence in women is the
>  relatively common phenomenon of post-natal depression. One could
>  certainly argue that cultural and social factors may play a role too.

Ah, that makes a bit more sense.  I was reading some kind of fluff the
other day that correlates marriage with depression in women; are there any
solid statistical studies that support that, or is it just fluff?

-- 
Larisa Migachyov                        
Want to hire an engineer?  Check out my resume at
http://www.stanford.edu/~lvm/resume.html