Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence represents a critical phase of development and is characterized by major changes in all areas of human life; physical, emotional, spiritual, cognitive and moral. Depression has been found to be the most common psychiatric disorder among adolescents. Methods and materials: A survey approach with a school based cross-sectional design was adopted. Convenient sampling was used to select the main setting (Udupi block); random sampling was used to select the schools, PUCs, & students. The data collection tools used comprised of demographic proforma, Beck Depression Inventory-I, Factors contributing to adolescent depression questionnaire and scale, Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale. Statistical analysis: Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 16 by computing the descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The main findings of the study show overall prevalence of adolescent depression was 44%. Depression was found to be significantly associated with gender (r=4.69, p=0.030), family history of depression or any mood disorders (r=30.81, p<0.001), presence of any illness (r= 23.692, =p<0.001), stressful life events (r=80.183, p<0.001), loss of someone close (r=1.107, p<0.001) and failure in final examinations (r=41.906, p<0.001). There was no association of adolescent depression with age. Depression was found to be negatively correlated with self-esteem (r=-0.794, p<0.001), anxiety (r=-0.729, p<0.001) and confidence (r=-0.760, p<0.001). Depression was found to have a significant negative correlation with family relationships (r=-0.700, p<0.001), peer relationship (r=- 0.575, p<0.001) and relationship with teachers (r=-0.589, p<0.001). Depression was found to be independent of the selected demographic variables as class of study, age, religion, type of family, parental marital status, parental occupation, and annual income. However, there was a significant association between depression and father’s education (r=57.21, p<0.001), and mother’s education (r=23.62, p=0.003). Conclusion: The community health department may extend their services to the school by planning adolescent health education on prevention and identification of depression. Further exploration of factors contributing to adolescent depression may be conducted through qualitative research.

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