A nice Sankey diagram

Gender, Depression, and Suicide in America

By Jacob Jameson

While women report higher rates of depression and are more likely to seek mental health care, men die by suicide at significantly higher rates — particularly in states with permissive gun laws.

The Depression Gender Gap

Depression affects Americans differently across gender lines. A nine‑item depression screening questionnaire, called the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‑9), was administered to determine the frequency of depression symptoms over the past 2 weeks.

Among 2021-2023 NHANES adult survey respondents, women were more than two times as likely as men to have PHQ-9 scores indicating severe depression.