Environmental factors in depression
IB Psychology· Health and well-being· 14 min read
1. Core concept
Environmental explanations locate the causes of a disorder outside the person's biology — in life events, relationships and social conditions. Classic work links the onset of depression to severe stressful life events (loss, adversity) and especially to the absence of a close, confiding relationship, which normally acts as a protective buffer. More recent work shows depressive symptoms even appear to cluster within social networks. These factors rarely act alone: the same event affects people differently depending on their vulnerability, so environment is best read as the trigger in a diathesis-stress picture.
2. Key studies
IB Psychology answers must be supported by named studies. Learn these to cite as evidence:
Patten (1991)
Replications of Brown and Harris (1978) confirmed that lacking an intimate relationship substantially raises depression risk — an effect likened in size to smoking's role in atherosclerosis. — Anchors social/environmental risk (life events and lack of a confiding relationship) as a factor in depression.
Rosenquist, Fowler, and Christakis (2011)
Depressive symptoms were correlated between people up to three degrees of separation in a social network, suggesting person-to-person spread. — Extends 'environment' to the social network itself as a factor in depression.
3. Evaluation (AO3)
Strength — modifiable, real-world targets — It identifies changeable factors (social support, life stress) and predicts individual differences in who becomes depressed after the same event.
Limitation — correlational and bidirectional — Evidence is largely correlational — stressful environments and depression may reinforce each other, and network 'contagion' can reflect shared environments or homophily rather than causation.
4. Scope
5. Common Pitfalls
Wrong move:
Treating a stressful environment as a direct, sufficient cause of depression (or, conversely, ignoring environment in favour of pure biology).
Why:
A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
Correct move:
Environmental evidence is largely correlational and interacts with vulnerability — the syllabus wants factors integrated (a biopsychosocial view), not an environment-only or biology-only story.
Going deeper
- Diathesis–stress modelthe environment supplies the stressor in the diathesis-stress model (BIO_5).
- Stress and healthstress is the closely related factor (HWB_7).
- Biological explanation of depressionthe biological/genetic vulnerability side is HWB_1.