Emotion Recognition Through the Eyes And its Association With Depression in Adults: The Role of Age, Gender, and Education

Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, Early View

Published Online: 29 July 2026, Doi:10.35365/ctjpp.26.3.18

RESEARCH ARTICLE / ARAŞTIRMA YAZISI

Emotion Recognition Through the Eyes And its Association With Depression in Adults: The Role of Age, Gender, and Education

Yetişkin Bireylerde Gözlerden Duygu Tanıma ve Depresyon İlişkisi: Yaş, Cinsiyet ve Eğitimin Rolü

Filiz Dilek¹ , Erol Yıldırım² , Aysun Ünal³

Abstract:

Emotion recognition, especially interpreting mental states through the eyes, is key to social cognition and may be impaired in depression. This study examined the relationship between mind-reading ability and depression levels in adults, evaluating how this relationship varies by age, gender, and education level. The descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out online between January and March 2024 using a snowball sampling method. This involved 696 individuals aged 18 and older. Data were collected using a personal information form, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).  Depression levels were significantly higher in women than in men (p < 0.05). Participants aged 19–29 had higher RMET and BDI scores than those in older age groups. No significant association was found between educational attainment and depression (p > 0.05), but mind-reading ability was better in individuals with 12 or more years of education (p < 0.05). The statistically significant negative correlation was found between depression levels and RMET scores (r = –0.14, p < 0.001). The findings suggest that increased depression is associated with reduced mind-reading ability from the eyes. In this context, emotion recognition may be related to depression, and awareness of these changes may contribute to better mental health outcomes.

Keywords: Depression, Emotion recognition, Theory of mind, Mind reading, Social cognition, Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test.

¹Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Vocational School of Health Services, Tekirdağ, Türkiye.

²Istanbul Medipol University, Department of Psychology, İstanbul, Türkiye.

³Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Tekirdağ, Türkiye.

Address of Correspondence/Yazışma Adresi: Filiz Dilek, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Vocational School of Health Services, Namık Kemal Campus Street, No:1, 59030, Süleymanpaşa, Tekirdağ, Türkiye. E-mail: [email protected].

Date of Received/Geliş Tarihi: 21.10.2025, Date of Revision/Düzeltme Tarihi: 11.03.2026, Date of Acceptance/Kabul Tarihi: 19.03.2026, Date of Online Publication/Çevirimiçi Yayın Tarihi: 03.08.2026

Citing/Referans Gösterimi: Dilek, F., Yıldırım, E. & Ünal, A. (2026). Emotion recognition through the eyes and its association with depression in adults: The role of age, gender, and education. Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.35365/ctjpp.26.3.18

© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Cyprus Mental Health Institute / Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.ktppdergisi.com). This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/