Objectives: This study aimed to examine the characteristics of married women complaining of depressive symptoms by assessing their psychopathology, life event stress, stress perception and coping skills, and to analyze the effects of those characteristics on outcomes after 12 months. The results are expected to provide basic data for testing the diagnostic validity of housewife depression. Method: The subjects were 52 housewives who visited the psychiatric outpatient clinic of Chungbuk National University Hospital with depressive symptoms during March to August 2005. After a psychiatric interview, the subjects filled a Korean version of symptom checklist-90-revision, life experience survey and stress perception questionnaire and ways of coping skills I checklist, and they were compared with a control group of 60 healthy women. After 12 months, the changes of subjective depressive feelings were evaluated through face-to-face or telephone interviews. Results: Depression group had higher academic qualifications than before, and while the cases of conversions or somatizations decreased but emotional symptoms such as anxiety and depression increased. Major stressors had been diversified from family problems to social problems. Although active coping skills increased, passive coping skills did not decreased. Psychopathological factors and negative life events were closely related to subjective depressive feelings measured after 12 months. Conclusions: With the development of society, stress factors and the psychopathology of housewives with depression are being modernized. However, the stress perception and coping skills look to follow the characteristics of traditional society. The progress of housewife depression was significantly affected mainly by early psychopathology and negative life event.