Prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in a high-school students population

Abstract

SummaryThe purpose of the present study was to examine the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression reported by high-school students of a Greek provincial town. One thousand and eighty students (587 males and 497 females) of the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades completed among other psychometric instruments, the DSSI/sAD (Delusions Symptoms States Inventory/states of Anxiety and Depression) an inventory measuring symptoms of anxiety and depression. On the anxiety scale 24.5% of males and 56.4% of the females reported scores above the cut-off point, whereas 10.3% of males and 30.9% of females were very high scorers. On the depression scale, 33.4% of males and 60.6% of females reported scores above the cut-off point, whereas 13.9% of the boys and 31.1% of girls reported very high scores. Both boys and girls reported more elevated scores on the depression scale but the sex differences were more pronounced on the anxiety scale particularly in the group of high scorers. A weak positive relationship between age and dysthymic symptoms was detected in females. The findings encourage discussion on topics regarding not only the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescence, but also the gender differences detected, the relationship between age and mood disorders in adolescence, the degree of diagnostic certainty of the self-report instrument used and the possible meaning of the low, medium, and high scores reported by the participants. It is proposed that data of this kind may be of some value in future comparative studies regarding small European cities.