Epidemiology of depressive symptoms in adolescents of a public school in Curitiba, Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To assess, using the self-report questionnaire Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the rate of depressive symptoms and its distribution by age and gender, in a sample of students. METHODS: Application of the CDI in 463 students, aged 10 to 17. RESULTS: The total mean score was 13.0 with a standard deviation of 7.0 (median = 12.0), for females the score was 14.4 with a standard deviation of 7.2 (median = 13.0) and for males it was 11.1 with a standard deviation of 6.2 (median = 10.0). Using the cut-off score of 19, 20.3% of the students had important indications of depressive symptoms. The age factor had no significance; however, there was a non-significant trend of increasing rates of depressive symptoms in the ages of 10 to 15 and a decreasing trend in the ages of 16 to 17. There was a statistically significant predominance of females above the cut-off score compared to males (72.3% versus 27.7%), with a ratio of 2.6 females for each male. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that adolescent students have a high level of depressive symptoms, with a clear predominance of females over males, and a probable period of onset concentrated between the ages of 12 and 15 years.