Gender differences, but no racial group differences, in self-reported psychiatric symptoms in adolescents

To study gender differences in psychiatric symptoms and their relationship to minor delinquent behavior in high school seniors.

This was a cross-sectional study of symptoms experienced during the past 2 weeks and the past year. Male (n = 249) and female (n = 248) high school seniors attending an inner-city and two suburban high schools rated themselves on a 46-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist and a 19-item Delinquency questionnaire.

Female adolescents, regardless of race, reported significantly higher levels of emotional distress, in particular depressed mood and anxiety, than did male adolescents. A separate factor analysis of male and female students generated anger-tension, school problems, and sadness-irritation, lethargy, respectively, as the first two factors. Trouble paying attention in school and marijuana, alcohol, and other drug use were associated with significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptoms. Black and white adolescents were similar in psychological adjustment.

This survey confirms sex differences in the level of psychiatric symptoms for 16- to 18-year-old adolescents, suggests gender-related qualitative differences in negative emotions, and emphasizes the importance of controlling for education when studying adolescents from different ethnic or racial backgrounds.