SELF Magazine: Utah women more depressed than average
The last thing I expected to read this morning at the gym in SELF Magazine was the tired old adage that Utah women are more depressed than the “average” U.S. woman. (or that Utah women reported 54% more rapes?!)  But here you have it:
Where are the healthiest (and unhealthiest!) places for women to live? SELF ranked 100 of the largest U.S. metro areas to find out. We analyzed roughly 6,000 bits of data in nearly 40 categories, including death and disease rates, environmental indicators, community resources and lifestyle habits. Sperling’s Best Places in Portland, Oregon, helped us gather the data and crunch the numbers, and an expert panel decided how much weight to give each criterion. Where applicable, all data is women specific and weighted for age and population size; averages are for the 100 cities on SELF’s list. How did your hometown do?Â
The answer?
Salt Lake-Ogden, UtahÂ
Population: 1,405,100
Ranking: 37 out of 100
+ Among the five lowest smoking rates on list
+ Among the five lowest cancer death rates in women
+ Among the five lowest heart disease death rates in women
– 54 percent more rapes reported than in average place on list
– Above-average rates of depression
– 28 percent fewer ob/gyns and internists per capita compared to average place
Setting the impeccable statistical methods employed by the professionals at SELF and “Sperlings Best Places” aside for a minute, the ”myth” that Utah (read, Mormon) women are more depressed than average seems to have legs. I’m going to Utah tomorrow morning, and will conduct my own investigation into the matter.
Happy Holidays!
I’m guessing from your tone that you aren’t taking this too seriously, but . . . the one thing these conversations usually miss is that what they actually have is above average reports of depression. We belong to a church that (1) attaches no (or, at least, less than average) stigma to mental health issues and (2) has a support network where mental health issues are likely to become known. As someone with a non-LDS background, I can tell you that even among educated, well-off, etc., etc. people, there are still segments of the population where getting treatment for depression is an admission of weakness and an embarrassment, which I think makes people less likely to do it.
Comment by Julie M. Smith — December 19, 2006 @ 9:28 pm
I can tell you Seattle has higher than average depression…is that because secularists are more likely to be depressed?
Comment by J. Stapley — December 19, 2006 @ 9:34 pm
Julie, I’m not taking this report that seriously, but it does seem to be a recurring theme that Mormon/Utah women are more depressed than “normal”. Your #1 and #2 are bare assertions that don’t really account for this discrepancy. For example, on what basis are you asserting that the LDS Church is more accepting of people with mental health issues? I’d wager that acceptance of depression depends more upon your particular socio-economic background and family circumstances than your membership in the LDS Church.
No, J. It’s because rain is depressing.
Comment by ECS — December 19, 2006 @ 10:00 pm
The evidence for extraordinary depression in Utah is less than compelling. See here.
Comment by Mike Parker — December 19, 2006 @ 10:49 pm
ECS,
I have no data for you, just experience contrasting a family/culture of origin (where seeking any help for mental health problems was/is considered roughly on par with picking your nose in public) versus experiencing a church culture where it is clear in official discourse that there is nothing wrong with seeking help for mental health issues. I’m not going to push this any farther than my own experience with the two, except to say that it was very striking to me coming into the church as an older teen to read something in the Ensign like “if blah blah blah, consult a mental health professional.” This was revolutionary to me–absolutely contrary to my culture/family of origin.
Comment by Julie M. Smith — December 19, 2006 @ 11:04 pm
I think the easy leap from “Utah” to “Mormon” is unwarranted. Stick with the data: Maybe women are just depressed about living in Utah.
Comment by Dave — December 19, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
I think it is just all the polygamists dragging the rest of us down. I blame them!
Ok, I also blame the inversion, but I can’t imagine that all those polygamists are happy.
Comment by a random John — December 19, 2006 @ 11:25 pm
I can see it.
Total generalizations, but from what I see, I think a lot of women here feel they don’t have options and feel powerless to change their situations. There is definitely an ideal “type” of woman in our culture, and an ideal role for women, and anyone who doesn’t fit into or want to work towards that ideal, is automatically “less than” or suspect. And it isn’t culturally acceptable to talk about wanting anything but the ideal. Keeping those feelings to yourself is lonely and isolating and yes, depressing. (I’m not talking about clinical depression here – but lets face it, most of the people on prozac are probably not clinically depressed.) And so women pretend, they don’t share those feelings, they try to want what they are supposed to want, try to be the woman they are “supposed” to be, rather than being able to move on and make positive changes.
In our culture/religion, the designated ideal path for women with children is to stay at home. So you might have among the ranks of the depressed:
Women who can’t stay home who feel guilty and sinful and judged for working.
Women who could stay home, but have no desire to stay home and therefore work, feel guilty and sinful and judged.
Women who stay at home at great financial sacrifice feel powerless to do anything about their financial situation
Some women who stay at home, but hate it, feel guilty for hating it and depressed about being at home.
Feeling that you can’t do anything to change your situation and/or life, because you are doing what you are “supposed” to be doing, is unempowering (is that a word?) and depressing.
Comment by Calli — December 20, 2006 @ 3:25 am
And er, there are a lot of women who love staying at home, of course – I’m not talking about them…
Comment by Calli — December 20, 2006 @ 3:26 am
Calli- I don’t buy into the “culture of victimhood” explanation that Mormon women are powerless to change their situtations, so they become hopelessly depressed.. Women are stronger than that. Even the ones who live in Utah
There’s obviously _ something_, however, giving researchers the impression that women. who may or may not be Mormon, but who live in Utah, are more depressed than average – other than just bad data? Maybe not.
Julie, my own experiences have been almost the opposite. Although I agree there’s a recent trend towards the Ensign encouraging people to seek professional counseling, I think it’s more common that Mormons who struggle with depression are blamed for just not praying hard enough, having enough faith – or sinning. Because the gospel makes everyone happy, right?
Comment by ECS — December 20, 2006 @ 7:01 am
I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed.
Comment by Marvin — December 20, 2006 @ 7:37 am
Maybe women that aren’t Mormon are depressed living in Utah. A friend at work got pretty depressed when she found out the neighbors kids couldn’t come and play because she drinks coffee.
Comment by jjohnsen — December 20, 2006 @ 8:31 am
But seriously. Every woman in my wife’s family over the age of 30 takes anti-depressants and my wife says playdates are full of women laughing about forgetting to take their “happy pills”. This article may not be evidence of anything, but it sure wouldn’t surprise me if there was truth to it.
Comment by jjohnsen — December 20, 2006 @ 8:34 am
Who cares about the depression issue when there are 54% more reported rapes!!! What is that about. It strikes me that this number would be harder to fudge. How do we explain it? Are Utah women really more likely to report rapes or are there more rapes?
Comment by TrailerTrash — December 20, 2006 @ 9:03 am
How are they defining depression, and where are they getting their numbers from?
Orange County, CA, where I live:
Population: 2,987,600
Ranking: 4 out of 100
+ Among the five lowest smoking rates on list
+ Scored in the top 10 cities for healthy eating habits
+ Among the 10 highest exercise rates on list
– Among the areas with the highest number of toxic sites
– Above-average drinking rates
– Scored in bottom fifth of list for air quality
I guess the drinking rates explain the liquor stores on every corner, but the eating habits don’t explain the donut stores next door to them.
Comment by Susan M — December 20, 2006 @ 10:34 am
This is a bizarre ranking system. Example, I live in San Antonio.
Population: 1,722,100
Ranking: 76 out of 100
+ Women are 26 percent less likely to die of cancer compared to average place SELF surveyed
+ Scored in top fifth of list for healthy eating habits
+ Scored in top fifth of list for watershed quality
– 42 percent more property crime than in average place on list
– Scored in bottom five areas for dental health
– Among the 10 cities with least amount of park space
We are way down the list because we have bad teeth, few parks, and property crime.
This is worse than Rape and Depression? Bizarre…
I am definitely more concerned by the rape stat than the depression one. depression has been shown to be related to being inclosed by mountains, which causes a form of claustrophobia. (Though I have no idea where it has been shown.)
Comment by Matt W. — December 20, 2006 @ 10:45 am
One possibility (discussed at the link I posted earlier) is that Mormons use prescription medication because alcohol is not an option for getting through life’s difficulties.
Other factors frequently ignored include the low incidence of anti-depressive use in Idaho and Arizona (two other states with significant LDS populations) and the low use in Utah of stimulant medications to treat AD/HD among children. If being LDS is so difficult, why are these two factors present?
As I wrote before, the evidence for “being LDS leads to depression” is not compelling.
Comment by Mike Parker — December 20, 2006 @ 11:39 am
It’s also not as easy to classify Utah as a Mormon state anymore. Granted, it’s still mega-mormon, but there is a significant number of Non-Mormons there these days. From the Salt Lake Tribune:
“According to the 2004 count, Utah is now 62.4 percent LDS with every county showing a decrease.”
Let’s say that around 25% percent of those LDS Utahns are women who fit in the age ranges specified for the poll and a generous guess would be that 60-70% of those Utah LDS women are actually active believing members*.
I would say that the poll represents “Utah women” far more than it paints a picture of active LDS women
*”David G. Stewart Jr. estimates worldwide activity at about 35 percent -”
Comment by General Nonsense — December 20, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
Why the low rate of ob/gyns? Probably because the large number of children change the denominator. With the high birth rate, you’d think they would have to put a wall around the state to stop an ob invasion.
Add to jjohnsen’s women who aren’t Mormon all the jack Mormons whose guilt leads to depression. That could push Prozac use through the stratosphere.
Comment by Mark B. — December 20, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
With the rape thing, who knows… Maybe Utah women are more likely to report it (due to having a Bishop or whatever…).
I do remember having a representative from the local Women’s Shelter come and talk to our class. She said that the rate of spousal abuse in Utah County was just as high as anywhere else. As I recall, the figures were quite alarming.
Comment by Seth R. — December 20, 2006 @ 6:07 pm
54 percent more rapes reported than in average place on list
Keep in mind that the statistic is rapes reported, not rapes. Perhaps Utah has a higher reporting rate? I wonder if lower alcohol use contributes to higher reporting?
Comment by JKS — December 20, 2006 @ 6:18 pm
I’ll go out on a limb and side with the theory that Mormon women are more depressed. OK, maybe not more depressed but certainly taking more anti-depressants. My reasons? I have been shocked at the number of women in our ward who compare what medications there on, which doctors have given their prescriptions, and which prescriptions have worked best compared to those that don’t. It’s a regular cocktail party! Maybe they’re just more open about it than anyother place that I’ve lived but I tend not to think so.
Comment by Jared — December 21, 2006 @ 1:42 am
I’ve seen the higher rape statistics for Utah before, but had no idea it was so much higher than average. Here’s more information from the Utah state government:
With respect to the depression stats, Mormons get so defensive whenever this issue comes up because of the implication that the status of women in the Church contributes to their greater risk for depression. While this may be true for some women, most Mormon women I know in my generation are strong and independent and happy. In any case, I think socio-economic status and family circumstances (genetics, etc.) are far better indicators of depression than ones’ membership in the Church.
Comment by ECS — December 21, 2006 @ 8:57 am
Here are some links that suggest that Utah women are not be more depressed than women from other states:
BYU Family Studies Center
USA Today article, April 2, 2004
Comment by jer — December 21, 2006 @ 10:49 am
“my wife says playdates are full of women laughing about forgetting to take their “happy pillsâ€. ”
Laughing?
Comment by Adam Greenwood — December 21, 2006 @ 5:49 pm
“I do remember having a representative from the local Women’s Shelter come and talk to our class. She said that the rate of spousal abuse in Utah County was just as high as anywhere else. As I recall, the figures were quite alarming.”
A very close relative goes around giving these kinds of presentation. I happen to know that some of this relative’s data and some of this relative’s anecdotes are false. This relative justifies it because it wakes people up.
Comment by Anonymous — December 21, 2006 @ 5:52 pm
Daniel K Judd recently gave a devotional address at BYU (MP3 download free)that indicated the following about LDS people:
1. Some (perhaps many) LDS people have problems with “perfectionism”.
2. Although Utah is 1st in nation for anti-depressants, Utah LDS generally feel better about themselves, and they take far fewer recreational drinks and drugs. It is likely that LDS Utahns are NOT the reason for the high ranking.
3. The LDS divorce rate is well below the national average, AND temple-married LDS are 5 times less likely to divorce than other LDS.
4. Although Utah has the highest suicide rate among young men, a follow-up study found that for those active in the LDS church, the suicide rate is much lower than the national average.
Comment by Frank Staheli — January 8, 2007 @ 2:16 pm