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Pope, Cohane, Kanayama, Siegel, and Hudson (2003) performed a trial of the effects of testosterone levels as they relate to men with refractory depression. Once several men were eliminated from the study for several reasons, researchers were left with a sample of 19 men. Participants were men of age between 30-65 years. Each participant must have been experiencing symptoms of major depressive disorder and had been medicated with an antidepressant medication for the 4 weeks prior to the study.  Each man must have exhibited low or borderline testosterone levels and a normal prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. Over 8 weeks, 10 men received testosterone and the other 9 received placebos.

The subjects that met the qualifications were given 10 g of 1% testosterone level or a placebo for a period of one week. During baseline, each participant was randomly assigned either the testosterone or the placebo. Also the researchers were blinded to the medication each person received until the patients’ ratings were calculated at the end of the study (Pope et al., 2003).

After week one of testosterone or placebo distribution the participants were evaluated on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and Clinical Global Impression. Along with emotional assessment, blood was drawn to test for testosterone levels. Both emotional and physiological changes were inspected for changes since baseline. At the end of each week of the study (Pope et al., 2003),  the participants were re-evaluated both mentally and physiologically.

Results show that those men receiving testosterone supplements had reduced scores on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Clinical Global Impression Inventory. Those participants receiving placebo did not experience reduced scores on both these tests. There was not a significant difference in regards to the Beck Depression Inventory (Pope et al., 2003).

Results suggest that administration of testosterone supplements may provide help depressive disorders. Although this study (Pope et al., 2003) is extremely preliminary, it serves as a platform for future studies of men and depression and how it relates to testosterone levels.

Reference

Pope H. G., Cohane G. H., Kanayama G, Siegel A. J., & Hudson J. I. (2003). Testosterone gel supplementation for men with refractory depression: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 105-111.

Most of the research done with children in deciding gender differences in peer interaction and quality in friendships is conducted using friendship dyads, but in Lansford and Parker’s 1999 study triads are used. The reason for this is because the authors believe patterns of intimacy are more likely to be observed in a dyad because the two children are isolated from others and therefore the broader social context is ignored. By studying triads they thought that their findings would be more naturalistic in that false intimacy would not be as readily observed as it would in dyads.

Lansford and Parker (1999) hypothesized that the differences among gender triads would be less exaggerated than the differences observed between gender dyads given that the social context in studies using dyads was removed. Fifty-six triads were selected from three public elementary schools in the Midwest. Eighty-five percent of participants were Caucasian. Each triad was observed in a semi-naturalistic play setting over a two-hour period. Adults were only ever in the observation room in order to introduce a new activity.

The researchers found that while there was more intimate sharing among triads of girls and more aggressive behavior in triads of boys, there were no significant differences in triads of boys and girls that related to responsiveness to members of the group, hierarchy within the group, ability to stay on task, or in an orientation toward working individually rather than collectively. These smaller differences between genders when viewing them in triads rather than dyads supports the researchers’ view that differences between elementary school aged children are less pronounced when the social context is accounted for (Lansford & Parker, 1999).

Reference

Lansford, J. E., & Parker, J. G. (1999). Children’s interaction in triads: Behavior profiles and effects of gender and patterns of friendship among members. Developmental Psychology, 35, 80-93. 

Farver and Branstetter’s (1994) goal was to see if there was any gender difference in prosocial response to peers in preschoolers. The study was conducted in three child-care facilities. There were a total of 52 participants, 26 boys and 26 girls. All participants came from intact white, middle-class families. Teachers in all three of the child-care facilities had graduated from the same University Child Development Laboratory program; their training was specific to the modeling of prosocial behavior in the classroom.

Because Farver and Branstetter (1994) wanted the study to be naturalistic, peers’ responses to naturalistic crying episodes were recorded as they occurred in indoor and outdoor free-play activity. The observers would come twice a week for an hour and a half from the months of October to February. For each crying episode, the observer noted what was happening when the crying episode began, how it began, any reactions or lack of reactions by children two to six feet away, any responses made my teachers, and the crier’s behavior.

Over the course of Farver and Branstetter’s (1994) study, 248 crying episodes were observed with a range of zero to twenty episodes per child. Ten children never cried while twelve children cried ten times or more. Six hundred and three peer responses were observed. Each crying episode got between zero and six responses. The number of responses made by each child to their crying peers ranged from one to thirty-one. In order of frequency, these responses included: Come closer and watch (40%), comfort (22%), make a comment (19%), ignore (10%), and tease the crier (0%). Because there were no tease the crier responses, it was removed from the study.

Farver and Branstetter (1994) found that there was no significant difference between boys and girls when it came to their prosocial response to peers’ crying episodes. Both boys and girls displayed prosocial behavior toward peers in distress at the preschool age (Farver & Branstetter, 1994). This finding suggests that any differences between boys and girls in prosocial response to peers emerges later in childhood and is therefore not an innate gender difference.

Reference

Farver, J. M., & Branstetter, W. H. (1994). Preschooler’s prosocial response to their peers’ distress. Developmental Psychology, 30, 334-341.