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Depression and Coping

People with major depression not only feel worse than other people, they act differently as well. Depression is correlated with "passive" ways of coping with difficult situations—for example, by daydreaming, or wishing that the problem would go away. People who are happier tend to use more active problem-solving methods to deal with their troubles, like asking for advice or making plans. Haghighatgou and Peterson (1995) observed that studies of depression and coping were done mostly in the United States and other Western countries, in cultures that value active problem-solving. In non-Western countries, they reasoned, coping strategies might not be linked to depression in the same way.

The researchers gave questionnaires on depression and coping with "a difficult academic situation" to 568 Iranian junior and senior high school students. Just as in the United States, students who had an active coping style reported fewer symptoms of depression than students who used passive strategies. Yet the researchers also found that the Iranians, on average, scored twice as high on depression measures as U.S. subjects. An "active" Iranian student could be as depressed as a "passive" U.S. student. This result is probably due to cultural differences. In Iran, being serious and solemn is highly valued, unlike in the United States, where cheerfulness is the norm.