Longitudinal tests in the United States challenge the resource hypothesis
The results did not support the resource hypothesis. The gap between men and women in altruism, trust, negative emotions and all major personality traits remained stable, while the depression gap actually narrowed. Women were more likely to meet criteria for depression in 2014, but their odds fell by about 38 per cent whereas men’s rates did not change.
Nevertheless, the author cautions that the research has limitations. Both studies draw on data from a single country, and the researchers acknowledge that patterns could differ in other cultural contexts with distinct histories or economic structures. Aging effects and normal development in individuals also complicate the separation of societal change from personal growth. Some measures—such as risk-taking and trust—relied on single survey questions, which may not fully capture their complexity. And some theoretically central measures—like interest in working with things versus people—were not available in the datasets, leaving room for future testing.
