Self-esteem and other risk factors for depressive symptoms among adolescents in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Background Little is known about depressive symptoms among adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to identify the prevalence of depression and its association with selfesteem, individual, parental and family factors among adolescents aged 12 to 18 in UAE. Methods Six hundred adolescents, aged 12 to 18 years were recruited from 4 of 111 schools in a cross-sectional study. We administered Beck Depression Inventory Scale and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale to measure self-report symptoms of depression and self-esteem. We used multiple linear regression to identify significant predictors of depression. Results Over 86% of the identified sample participated to the survey. The mean age of the sample was 14.3 (±1.3) with an excess of girls (61%). Depressive symptoms were detected in 17.2% (95% CI 14.2-20.7). There was an inverse relationship between self-esteem scores and depressive symptoms. Positive predictors of depressive symptoms, having controlled for age, gender, and ethnicity included experiencing neglect, being verbally abused in school, having no monthly allowance to spend in school, a history of physical morbidities requiring treatment, being a current or past smoker and a low family income. Conclusion The high prevalence of depressive symptoms measured in this survey suggests a significant public health problem among adolescents in the UAE. Public health interventions aimed at

Trends in the prevalence of twenty health indicators among adolescents in United Arab Emirates: cross-sectional national school surveys from 2005, 2010 and 2016

“…While the prevalence of loneliness increased among both boys and girls over time in the Philippines trend study [ 5 ]. As shown in some previous studies among adolescents in UAE [ 14 , 15 ], mental morbidity in the form of depressive and anxiety-related symptoms has been shown as to be a significant burden.…”

“…In a cross-sectional study (2007–2009) among adolescents in UAE, the prevalence of current smokers was 14.0% [ 13 ]. In terms of mental health, in a sample of school adolescents (N = 600) in the UAE, 17.2% were found to have depressive symptoms [ 14 ], and in another adolescent school sample (N = 968) in UAE, the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 28% [ 15 ].…”

Efficacy of a fasting‐mimicking diet in functional therapy for depression: A randomised controlled pilot trial

“…Depression raises the risk of several disorders (Sotelo & Nemeroff, 2017), partly due to its association with inflammation (Halaris, 2019) and potential to be influenced by changes in microbiota (Winter, Hart, Charlesworth, & Sharpley, 2018). Current research suggests that depression is caused by a combination of genetic (Dunn et al, 2015), environmental (Gotlib, Goodman, & Humphreys, 2020), and psychological factors (Hammen, 2018), including child abuse (Infurna et al, 2016), stressful life events (Berg, Rostila, & Hjern, 2016), and low self-esteem (Shah et al, 2020). Indeed, recent findings showing that individuals with high self-esteem reported a lower risk for developing depression support the vulnerability model of low self-esteem and depression (Orth, Robins, Meier, & Conger, 2016).…”

Characterizing individuals accessing mental health services in the UAE: a focus on youth living in Dubai

“…Some studies have focused on UAE national samples only, and many only included non-help-seeking samples. The few studies conducted on youth have highlighted a high prevalence of mental illness [ 21 ] with depression [ 22 , 23 ], anxiety [ 21 ] and eating disorders [ 24 – 26 ] being prevalent. A reluctance to seek help due to stigma and scepticism regarding the efficacy of conventional Western medical treatment has also been reported [ 27 – 29 ].…”