Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ArticlesPhenomenology, Psychosocial Correlates, and Treatment Seeking in Major Depression and Dysthymia of Adolescence
Section snippets
METHOD
The study followed a two-stage design: a self-report questionnaire was first administered to a large, unselected school population; then, after subjects were designated into subgroups (based on responses to the initial questionnaire), individual clinical interviews were conducted. The entire procedure took place during two academic years (1988–1990).
Sociodemographic Characteristics of Subjects
Respondents were aged 13 to 21 years, and more than 95% had started puberty; 70% lived with both natural parents. There was an overrepresentation of girls (female-male ratio = 4:1) because of sampling design. Table 1 shows sociodemographic characteristics of subjects with lifetime diagnosis of depression or no mood disorder. Eleven subjects (16% of those with mood disorder) had double depression, as defined by Keller and Shapiro (1982); they were included in the major depression group. Fourteen
Methodology and Study Limitations
Prior to discussing results, some limitations of this study should be mentioned. First, the study design did not permit an estimate of the prevalence of affective disorders in adolescents. Individuals who received diagnoses of major depression or dysthymia at stage II appeared to be distributed across all three groups at stage I, because high scores on the Kandel Depressive Mood Inventory identify subjects with current depressive symptoms but do not screen for all current (and a fortiori past)
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Cited by (0)
This study was funded by the French Ministry of Health (Direction Générale de la Santé, 16-87-13). The authors thank all interviewers: Susan Clot, Nathalie Danon, Nicolas Dantchev, Jacques Laget, Brigitte Remy, Yves Simon, and Catherine Zittoun. They also thank Denise Baillot for her help in editing the manuscript.