Depression-Related Distress in Mauritian and South African Adolescent Girls: An Exploratory Investigation

Abstract

Self-reports of depression-related distress were obtained from girls of 14 to 17 years of age living in communities of low socioeconomic status in Mauritius (n = 198) and South Africa (n = 275). Of the girls in the two samples, 26.3 and 21.5%, respectively, had thought about self-harm during the past 5 yr., while between 14.6 and 16.7% had made self-harm attempts. Also, 39.9% of the Mauritian girls and 31.0% of the South Africans reported being sad and tearful every day for more than 2 wk. over the past year. Of the girls, Mauritians (54.0%) and South Africans (32.1%) felt their problems were too much to cope with, while 20.4% of the South African girls and 44.4% of the Mauritians knew of no place to go for help when feeling sad or depressed. The findings highlight the extent of depression-related symptoms and issues related to access to mental health services. Increasing mental health services and awareness programmes are indicated.

Mauritian Undergraduate University Students' Sources of Stress and Support

“…The present findings must be viewed against recent data showing that 16.7% of Mauritian adolescents (14-17 year olds) have made self-harm attempts, 26.3% have had suicidal ideation in the preceding five years, 54% found their problems too much to cope, and 44.4% had no idea where to go for help when feeling sad or depressed (Pillay, Bundhoo, & Bhowon, 2010). Such findings point to the need for vigilance as these adolescents enter tertiary education and the work sphere.…”

What causes depression in adults?

“…These studies have confirmed the existence of self-destructive thoughts in almost ¼ of the respondents, and the attempt of self-harm respectively in 16.7% and 14.6% of girls. More than 30% of the studied had depressed mood and felt sad for over the past five years, while more than half of Mauritanian girls and 32.1% of African girls were unable to cope with their problems, and a large part of them did not know where to turn for help [25].…”

The neurobiology of self-processing in abused depressed adolescents

“…Childhood maltreatment is associated with chronic, severe, and treatment-resistant depression (Klein et al, 2009; McCauley et al., 1997), and a history of maltreatment is associated with a threefold greater risk for depression (Brown, Cohen, Johnson, & Smailes, 1999) that is carried throughout the lifetime (Gillespie & Nemeroff, 2007). Research based on cognitive models of depression suggest that early history of child abuse is linked to later adolescent and adult depression via rigid adjudications of negative stimuli, traits, and events to the self as well as disregard of positive stimuli, traits, and events (Liu, Choi, Boland, Mastin, & Alloy, 2013; Pillay, Bundhoo, & Bhowon, 2010). This process is thought to contribute to the emergence of biased cognitive self-schemas, which exclude positive self-information and preferentially assimilate negative self-information (Beck, 1961).…”