Prevalence and short-term stability of depressive symptoms in schoolchildren

This study examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms in a sample of 471 Swedish schoolchildren aged 8-13 years from urban and rural areas. Children self-reported their experience of depressive symptoms on a Swedish version of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Short-term stability of children's depressive symptoms was evaluated for a 6- to 9-week period. In addition, the children's satisfaction with their school, home and leisure time was assessed. The results indicated that the prevalence of depressive symptoms was related to neither location (urban vs rural) nor age. Although girls experienced significantly more depressive symptoms than boys, the clinical importance of this difference is negligible. Approximately 1% of the schoolchildren reported severe suicidal thoughts. As expected, children's depression was negatively associated with their home and school satisfaction and leisure interest. A cut-off score of 13 on the CDI could identify the upper 10% of the children in the school sample as depressed and, at the follow-up, 44% of these children continued to be depressed. Overall, the total CDI mean scores obtained in this study were lower than those reported in comparative surveys in Anglo-Saxon countries.