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Demoralization and gender differences in a kibbutz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Itzhak Levav ,
Shlomo Gilboa  and
Felipe Ruiz
Itzhak Levav*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem; Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel; WHO/Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA
Shlomo Gilboa
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem; Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel; WHO/Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA
Felipe Ruiz
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem; Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel; WHO/Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Itzhak Levav, WHO/Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd Street N.W., Washington, DC 20037, USA.
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Synopsis

Gender differences in demoralization (depressive symptoms) were examined in a firstever true prevalence study conducted in a kibbutz. The unusual organizational arrangements of this commune, where women have achieved higher levels of equality than in most other societies, offered a laboratory-like opportunity to test the psychosocial factors imputed as a partial explanation for the higher rates of demoralization in women.

Demoralization was studied using the 27-item scale of the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (PERI) in all of the adult population of a single kibbutz. The response rate was close to 95%. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the effects of key sociodemographic and kibbutz-related variables on gender differences. The results showed that women had higher mean scores and rates even after these variables were controlled. The female: male demoralization ratio was well within the range of results obtained in non-socialist Israeli urban settings. The paper concludes with a discussion on the tentative relevance of the study results for the interpretation of the 2:1 female–male ratio of depression found in the epidemiological literature.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , November 1991 , pp. 1019 - 1028
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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