Prevalence of depressive symptoms among urban adolescents in South India

Aim: This study aimed to find the prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents studying in schools in Chennai. Settings and Design: The study was a school based cross sectional survey in which data were collected through a self administered questionnaire from adolescents studying in classes X, XI and XII. Material: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to nine hundred and sixty four adolescents – boys (n=509) girls (n=455) – studying in twenty one schools spread across the city. Results: Based on the cut-off scores, 378 adolescents (39.2%) were found to be non-depressed, 358 (37.1%) were mildly depressed, 187 (19.4%) were moderately depressed and 41 (4.3%) severely depressed. In the present sample of adolescents, among the 21 depressive symptoms in the BDI, experience of emotional manifestations of depression like sadness, irritability, self-accusations and crying spells dominated over cognitive, behavioral and physical manifestations of depression There were no significant gender differences but a higher proportion of girls (27%) reported moderate to severe depression than boys (21%). There was an association between age and depression with increasing depression in older adolescents. Conclusion: Individual symptoms of depression and depressed mood are common in adolescents. Depressive symptoms are an unrecognized problem among adolescents that necessitates the need for recognition. Thus, understanding the prevalence of adolescent depressive symptoms is important for developing appropriate screening strategies, treatment planning, follow-up for those small proportion of adolescents who could become clinically depressed. Current poor understanding of the factors that influence depressive symptoms makes these efforts challenging. Key-words: prevalence, depressive symptoms, adolescents Introduction Depression is a disorder that is defined by certain emotional, behavioral and thought patterns. Petersen and colleagues 1 defined adolescent depression at three levels: (1) depressed mood, (2) depressive syndrome, and (3) clinical depression. Depressed mood is sadness at various times in response to an unhappy situation. Depressive syndrome is experiencing anxiety with other symptoms such as feeling sad, lonely, unloved and worthless. Clinical depression is manifestation of five or more depressive symptoms lasting continuously for two weeks and impairing current functioning. Depression is under recognized among adolescents because depressive symptoms are considered a familiar part of adolescent experience . Depressed mood that is stable across at least 3 years of adolescence is indicative of adult depression and other psychological difficulties .