This study examined the relationship of depression to race, sex, social class and social mobility. The sample included 34 Black female, 32 Black male, 31 White female, and 37 White male upper- and middle-class adults. A questionnaire contained a demographic background data sheet, the Zung Depression Scale, Wessman-Ricks Mood Scale, Osgood's Semantic Differential, the Buss-Durkee and Mosher guilt
... [Show full abstract] inventory, the Blatt, D'Afflitti, and Quinlan Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, Jackson's Personality Research Form-Succorance Scale, the Social Readjustment Scale, and the Rotter I.E. Scale. Female status, lower social class, and downward social mobility were related to greater depression. Though Blacks had a greater number of stressful life events and felt more externally oriented than Whites, there were no significant relationships between race and measures of depression. There was an interesting race by social mobility interaction, however, in which upwardly mobile Blacks and downwardly mobile Whites felt more dependent, external, and self-critical. The results indicate that sex, social class, and social mobility factors had a more significant relationship to depression than did race.