Mungai, KinyanjuiBayat, Amiena2018-11-202018-11-202018Mungai, K. & Bayat, A. (2018). High-functioning depression among women in South Africa: An exploratory study. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 28(5): 411-415.1433-0237http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2018.1523312http://hdl.handle.net/10566/4214The study estimated the prevalence and trends of chronic depressive symptoms among women in South Africa from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data collection waves (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014/2015). NIDS utilised the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale to assess depressive symptoms among adults. From the trend analysis, we observed a decrease in self-reported significant depressive symptoms over the eight-year period in black women (2 .66%), followed by mixed-race (coloured) women (1 .15%). Across race, significant depressive symptoms were associated with socioeconomic status variables such as income, education, and occupational status. Within race, prevalence rates were higher among individuals with low socioeconomic status (lower income, less educated, and less skilled occupations). Black women were at a higher risk of exhibiting high-functioning depression due to their overrepresentation among low socioeconomic stats individuals. Symptom prevalence may be explained largely by psychosocial stressors in patriarchal legacy communities.enThis is the post-print version of the article published online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2018.1523312Chronic depressive symptomsDepressionDepressive symptomsPersistent depressive symptomsPsychologyWomenArticle