Association of Digit Ratio With Depression and Hopelessness in Females

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is regarded as the main cause of individual’s incapacity. One of the component of depression is hopelessness. This study was planned to examine if the digit ratio associates with depression and hopelessness status in the Iranian women. Methods: This cross-sectional study sample included 358 women aged between 20 to 32 years old. The palm side of both hands of individuals was photographed and then the length of index and ring fingers was measured by ImageJ. The Beck’s depression inventory II and Beck’s hopelessness scale (BHS) were used to measure the levels of depression and hopelessness respectively. ANOVA and Student’s t test was applied to compare the study groups in respect to the continuous data. Results: The results showed that the means of 2D:4D ratio of neither right nor left hands were significantly different between the depression study groups. The same insignificant results were derived with hopelessness status too. However, reanalyzing the data, while combination of depression and hopelessness was considered, showed a significantly lower digit ratio of the right hand in the women whit neither depression nor hopelessness (group 1) compared to the women with moderate/severe depression while holding a degree of hopelessness (group 2) (ratio mean for group 1: 0.978 ± 0.003 and for group 2: 0.992 ± 0.005; t = -2.417, P = 0.017). Conclusion: Our data suggested that the 2D:4D ratio of the right hand in the women associates with the severity of depression when accompanied by hopelessness.

Keywords

• women
• depression
• hopelessness
• hand
• digit ratio