Gender differences in depression among undergraduates from seventeen Islamic countries

In this study we investigated gender differences in depression among volunteer undergraduates (N = 8,538) recruited from 17 Islamic countries. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) was used in its Arabic form for all groups except the Pakistan group, which used the English version. Results indicated that there are significant gender differences in 9 of the Islamic countries in which females tended to be higher in depression, namely: Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Algeria, Oman, Qatar, Morocco, and Kuwait. However, males scored significantly higher than females in Saudi Arabia, while there were no significant gender differences in depression in Lebanon, Tunisia, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Jordan, and Sudan. The salient gender differences were interpreted in the light of a socialization process; especially sex-typing and gender roles.