The relationship between the perception of major life events and depression: A systematic scoping review and meta-analysis

Background: Major life events can lead to depression in adulthood. However, as predicted by several depression theories, not only the mere occurrence of major life events but also the way people perceive them determines the onset of a depression.

Methods: Based on a systematic literature search, we identified 276 studies (N_total = 89,600) that examined the relationship between the perception of major life events and depression. We provide an overview of how this relationship has been examined. Furthermore, we meta-analytically integrated 420 effect sizes (172 studies) on the association between the perception of major life events and depression.

Results: Most studies relied on college student samples, were cross-sectional, and were conducted in the United States. A more negative perception of events was significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (r = 0.28). This association was robust across several design and sample characteristics. Furthermore, the perception of major life events and depression were also longitudinally associated with each other (event perception predicting later depressive symptoms: r = 0.26; depressive symptoms predicting later event perception: r = 0.17).

Limitations: Longitudinal research on the relationship between depression and the perception of major life events was relatively rare impairing definite conclusions on whether the perception of life events can predict changes in depressive symptoms over time.

Conclusion: The perception of major life events is related to depression. However, further longitudinal research considering a range of different perceived event characteristics and using non-Western heterogeneous samples is needed to better understand their relationship.