ABSTRACT
Sex differences in morbidity and mortality have attracted considerable attention for several centuries. While there is little doubt that there is a significant genetic contribution to the aetiology of major affective disorders, the evidence concerning the genetic contribution to neurotic affective disorders is conflicting. The evidence from genetic studies indicates that the influence of sex on liability to affective disorders is therefore likely to be environmental rather than genetic. Sex differences in hormones have been invoked to explain behavioural and psychological differences between men and women. The empirical data available so far suggest that there is no difference in the rates at which men and women experience acute life events or adversity. Sex role hypotheses have proved difficult to test convincingly and this may be attributed partly to their inadequate specification and partly to the lack of directly measurable social indicators which might be used to assess their explanatory power.
