Congratulations to our research assistants who presented at the Tenth Annual Women’s Health Research Symposium on March 7th!
DAS Lab RAs at the Tenth Annual Women’s Health Research Symposium!
The DAS Lab proudly recognizes March as Women’s Health Research Month.
“Women have unique health needs but medical research has historically prioritized men, leaving immense, and sometimes dangerous, gaps in knowledge.
Women’s health research remains marginalized — even now it is funded less often, and at lower funding amounts. This means that critical research questions are often left unanswered, and women continue to face unnecessary risks and have their suffering brushed aside as “medically unexplained symptoms.” — BC Women’s Health Foundation.
The DAS Lab strives to bridge these inequalities by continuously working to fill in the existing gaps in knowledge regarding women’s mental health.
Grace presented: “Social Support and Depression during COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Culture in Asian and Western Women”
“This study examined how cultural background moderates the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms in women during the COVID-19 pandemic. It found that social support was more strongly associated with lower depressive symptoms in Western cultures, but not in Asian cultures. These results underscore the importance of examining how cultural differences influence the association between social support and depression in women, while providing insights into the role of cultural differences in shaping women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Myah presented: “Happiness Valuation and Depression Among First-Year Female University Students: The Moderating Role of Culture”
“There is a relationship between happiness valuation and depression. However, cultural differences significantly shape the way we perceive and value happiness. Indeed, while happiness valuation is often linked to depression, cultural beliefs influence whether pursuing happiness enhances or undermines mental wellbeing. Thus, the current study looked at (1) the relationship between happiness valuation and depression in women, and (2) how differences in cultural background, specifically between Asian and Western cultures, moderate this relationship. The main finding was that first-year female university students who value happiness was associated with higher depression levels, however culture moderates the relationship between happiness and depression, with female students from Western cultural backgrounds demonstrating a stronger relationship between happiness valuation and depressive symptoms compared to female students from Asian cultural backgrounds.”
Irene presented: “Do Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation Modulate the Association Between Loneliness and Depression?”
“My poster examined how gender and trait emotion regulation moderate the loneliness-depression link. While loneliness, expressive suppression, and being a woman correlated with greater depression, and cognitive reappraisal with lower depression, neither strategy significantly moderated the relationship for both genders, suggesting other coping mechanisms may be more relevant.”
Aakriti presented: “Gender Differences in the Association between Negative Interpretation Biases and Adolescent Anxiety”
“Anxiety disorders commonly emerge during adolescence, a critical developmental period, with a prevalence rate of 14%. Adolescents with anxiety often struggle academically, face relationship challenges, and develop maladaptive coping strategies. One well-established risk factor for anxiety is negative interpretation biases– the tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli in a negative light. While prior research indicates that girls report higher levels of anxiety than boys, it remains unclear whether gender moderates the prospective relationship between negative interpretation biases and anxiety symptoms. The present study examines the association between negative interpretation biases and changes in anxiety symptoms over time and explores whether gender moderates this relationship. Results revealed a significant moderating effect of gender in the association between negative interpretation biases and changes in anxiety symptoms. In contrast to our hypothesis, negative interpretation biases significantly predicted increases in anxiety symptoms in boys, but not in girls.”
Anushka presented: “Fear of Negative Evaluation and Interpretation Bias for Social Information: The Moderating Role of Gender and Cognitive Reappraisal”
“This study aimed to explore whether cognitive reappraisal moderates the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and negative social interpretation bias. Previous research suggests that fears of negative evaluation and social intrepretation bias are stronger among women. Since women tend to be better at regulating emotions, or dealing with emotions in general, the present study explores whether cognitive reappraisal might serve as a stronger buffer in the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and negative social interpretation bias among women. Results revealed that greater fear of negative evaluation is associated with a more negative social interpretation bias. Cognitive reappraisal did not moderate this association, either alone or with respect to gender.”
Shayna presented: “Examining the Relationship Between Adolescents’ Self-Compassion and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Gender as a Moderator”