Depression in Adult Women: Age Changes and Cohort Effects

OBJECTIVES: We sought to separate age and cohort associations with depression, assessed 3 times within a 10-year period in 701 women born between 1928 and 1958. METHODS: We used regression analysis to examine age differences in women with depression in 2 birth cohorts, pre-1945 and post-1944, who were assessed at comparable ages. Multilevel modeling was used to estimate changes with age in successive birth year cohorts. RESULTS: An age by cohort interaction indicated more depression among younger than older women in the post-1944 cohort but a flat age profile in the pre-1945 cohort. Longitudinal analyses indicated declines in depression with age in more recent cohorts but increases in earlier ones. CONCLUSIONS: Increases in depression in younger women in successive cohorts may be offset by decreases in middle age.