Affective-Somatic Symptoms of Depression, Suicide Risk and Exposure to Childhood Maltreatment: Data from Emerging Adults to Older-Age Males

Abstract

Major depression is typically conceptualised as a disturbance of mood and behaviour. In primary care presentations however, somatic symptoms often dominate the clinical picture of depression, though investigations of organic causes may delay diagnosis. Attention to somatic symptoms may be a particularly useful means of earlier detection of men’s depression and suicidality. Utilising data from 530 Canadian men (mean age 47.91 years, range 19–88), confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor affective-somatic model of depression (CFI =.953, TLI =.934, RMSEA =.092, SRMR =.041). Controlling for affective symptoms, somatic symptoms accounted for unique variance in men’s suicidality. When examining static childhood risk factors, a somatic symptom × maltreatment exposure interaction indicated elevated suicidality in men reporting 3–5 childhood maltreatment types but not those reporting 1–2 types. Greater attention to somatic symptoms may improve detection of men’s depression in the context of widely held perceptions of affective symptoms being associated with vulnerability or weakness among males.