May 20, 2020

Dissertation, 20 May 2020: Therese Rydberg Sterner

On 20th of May, Therese Rydberg Sterner at University of Gothenburg, defended her doctoral thesis entitled: “Depression among Swedish 70-year-olds: Sex differences from a gender perspective?”.

The overarching aim of this thesis was to study prevalence, time trends, and subjective experiences of depression among older adults, with specific focus towards potential differences by sex and gender expression. Data was derived from the population-based Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies. The findings suggest that the prevalence of depression decreased between 1970s and the 2010 among women, and that the Positive-Negative Sex-Role Inventory (PN-SRI), a measure of gender expression, is applicable in a Swedish research setting among older adults. Moreover, irrespective of biological sex, femininity was associated with a greater burden of depressive symptoms. The inverse was observed for androgyny and masculinity. Finally, participants having depression shared their experiences in focus group discussions where they expressed limited trust towards healthcare providers in seeking medical help for depression, as well as need for more communication and health knowledge about depression.

Photo of Therese Rydberg Sterner by Ragnhild Larsson.

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