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Consequences and correlates of adolescent depression
1Department of Health policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Objective:
To examine the correlates and consequences of high levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents.
Design:
Secondary analysis of the 1997 Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls, a survey of a nationally representative sample of 4648 adolescent boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years, inclusive, conducted in school settings. The self-administered questionnaire contains a screening instrument for depression based on the Children's Depression Inventory.
Outcome:
Days of school missed, performance at grade level, alcohol use, drug use, smoking, and bingeing.
Results:
After controlling for sociodemographics, life events, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and exposure to violence, relative to other children, children and adolescents with high degrees of depressive symptoms missed about 1 day more of school in the month preceding the survey (P<.05) and had higher odds of smoking (odds ratio, 1.84; P<.001), bingeing (odds ratio, 2.02; P<.001), and suicidal ideation (odds ratio, 16.59; P<.001).
Conclusion:
High levels of depressive symptoms are correlated with serious and significant consequences, even after controlling for life circumstances.