APPROVED

Research indicates that women are more likely to experience depression than are men. The current study examined the effects of gender, socialized gender roles, rumination, and neuroticism on symptoms of depression in young adults. As predicted, rumination mediated the relationship between gender and depression, and socialized gender roles had a greater explanatory power for rumination, neuroticism, and depression than did gender. Contrary to predictions, rumination did not mediate neuroticism's effects on depression. Structural equation modeling reveled that rumination-on-sadness positively predicted neuroticism and depression. However, rumination-in-general, while positively predicting neuroticism, negatively predicted symptoms of depression. Finally, once socialized gender roles, rumination, and neuroticism were controlled, male gender was modestly predictive of depression