Depressive Symptoms and Associated Psychosocial Factors among Adolescent Survivors 30 Months after 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Purpose: This study longitudinally investigated the changes of depressive symptoms among adolescent survivors over 2 years and a half after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, as well as the predictive effects of demographic characteristics, earthquake exposure, negative life events, social support, and dispositional resilience on the risk of depressive symptoms at two time points after the earthquake.Methods: Participants were 1573 adolescent survivors (720 males and 853 females, mean age at initial survey = 15.00 ± 1.26 years), whose depressive symptoms were assessed at 6 months (T6m) and 30 months (T30m) post-earthquake. Data on demographics, earthquake exposure, and dispositional resilience were collected at T6m. Negative life events and social support were measured at T6m and 24 months (T24m) post-earthquake.Results: The prevalence rates of probable depression, 27.5 at T6m and 27.2% at T30m, maintained relatively stable over time. Female gender was related with higher risk of depressive symptoms at both T6m and T30m, while being only child could only predict higher risk of depressive symptoms at T30m. Negative life events and social support at T6m, as well as earthquake exposure, were concurrently associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms at T6m, but not associated with the risk of depressive symptoms at T30m, while negative life events and social support at T24m could predict depressive symptoms at T30m, all of which suggested that these variables may have strong but short-term effect on adolescents’ depressive symptoms post-earthquake. Besides, dispositional resilience was evidenced as a relatively stable negative predictor for depressive symptoms.Conclusions: These findings could inform mental health professionals regarding how to screen adolescent survivors at high risk for depression, so as to provide them with timely and appropriate mental health services based on the identified risk and protective factors for depressive symptoms.

Understanding the Relationship between Trauma Exposure and Depression among Adolescents after Earthquake: The Roles of Fear and Resilience

“…Firstly, we assessed the prevalence of depression in this study, and found that the prevalence was 62.8% among adolescents 18 months after the Wenchuan earthquake, higher than that (e.g., 27.6, 40.6, 30.9, 37.5, and 29.8% after 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months since earthquake) found in the studies from Fan’s team (e.g., Shi et al, 2016; Zhou et al, 2016). The difference can be attributed to the different participants.…”

“…The difference can be attributed to the different participants. Specifically, the adolescents Fan’s team investigated were from Dujiangyan city, about 20 kms away from the epicenter (e.g., Shi et al, 2016; Zhou et al, 2016). However, the Wenchuan and Maoxian county, where the adolescents in the current study came from, are the epicenter.…”

Mindfulness, Life Skills, Resilience, and Emotional and Behavioral Problems for Gifted Low-Income Adolescents in China

“…Examples of items in the RS-14 include: "When I'm in a difficult situation, I can usually find my way out of it, " "My belief in myself gets me through hard times, " and "I am determined." RS-14 shows both cross-ethnic validity in the United States and good reliability amongst Chinese adolescents (Pritzker and Minter, 2014;Shi et al, 2016). For this study the Cronbach's alpha was 0.90.…”

Resilience, emotional problems, and behavioural problems of adolescents in China: Roles of mindfulness and life skills

“…RS‐14 assesses resilience‐related traits, which involve a set of personal characteristics that can mediate the impact of adverse life conditions on psychological adjustment (Wagnild, ; Wagnild & Young, ). Examples of items include “I am determined;” “My belief in myself gets me through hard times;” and “When I'm in a difficult situation, I can usually find my way out of it.” The scale has demonstrated cross‐ethnic validity in the United States and good reliability among adolescents in China (Pritzker & Minter, ; Shi, Yu, Zhou, Geng, & Fan, ). The Cronbach's alpha of these items was 0.87 for this study.…”