Sex differences in the manifestations of depression in young people. A study of French high school students part I: Prevalence and clinical data

Abstract

The first part of this study investigates the prevalence and clinical manifestations of major depressive episodes in young people. The sample for this investigation consisted of 744 high school students (439 males and 305 females), aged 14 to 23 years, and attending 15 high schools in the North of France. Assessment of major depressive episodes according to DSM-III-R criteria was performed by medical doctors using a semi-structured interview and by means of the French version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Thirty-two students (18 males and 14 females) were found to have a major depressive episode with a prevalence of 4.1% in males and 4.7% in females. However, the results also showed that the significant manifestations of major depression differed according to sex and suggested that manifestations of major depression in female young people might differ from those observed in adults more markedly than in males. This may explain that the diagnostic performance of the CES-D was found to be higher in males than in females and that the female prevalence of major depression was found to be lower than those usually obtained with adolescent-specific diagnostic criteria.

A longitudinal study of depression in an urban spanish pubertal population

“…For children at the age of 11, Anderson et al (1987) observed the same prevalence. In adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age, Fleming et al (1989) estimated 1.8%, but Kashani et al (1987) in a sample of 14 to 16 year olds, and Bailly et al (1992), in students aged 14 to 23, found 4.7% and 4.4% respectively; figures similar to those of the girls of 13 years in the present study.…”

“…Fleming et al (1989) reported no differences between genders in pre-adolescents while other authors (Kashani & Simond, 1979;Anderson et al, 1987) showed a higher prevalence in boys than in girls. Several studies in adolescents found higher figures of depression in the female sex than in the male (Kashani et al, 1987;Fleming et el., 1989;Lewinshon et al, 1993) although Bailly et al (1992) found no significant differences. Kashani and Sherman (1988) postulated that, as the child reaches puberty and adolescence, the condition becomes more common among girls than boys and this pattern coincides with findings in adults where the rates of depression are higher in women than in men (Weissman & Klerman, 1977;Klerman & Weissman, 1988;CoryeU et al, 1992).…”

“…Also, the symptom profile of the depressives is influenced by age or, perhaps, by other developmental features (Goodyer & Cooper, 1993). However, the principal studies have been of depressive symptomatology (Kandel & Davies, 1982;Schoenbach et al, 1983;Ostrov et al, 1989;R_ierdan & Koff, 1991;Larsson & Melin, 1992) or of prevalence of depression (Kashani et al, 1983;Anderson et al, 1987;Deykin et al, 1987;Fleming et al, 1989;Bailly et al, 1992). As outlined by Watt (1992), the need for longitudinal investigations to provide information on the risk factor of the disorder and in particular the developmental processes that contribute to risk, has prompted some follow-up studies in general populations (McGee & Williams, 1988;Fleming et al, 1993;Lewinsohn et al, 1993).…”

The Long‐term Psychological Effects of a Disaster Experienced in Adolescence: II: General Psychopathology

“…Possible reasons for the higher rates of Major Depression found in the NCS and OADP compared with the ECA include the use of interviews using more than one probe question, such as the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) or SADS, as opposed to the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), which uses just one (Blazer et al, 1994 ;Lewinsohn et al, 1993). Other studies of Major Depression in community samples in comparable age ranges have tended to find prevalence rates within the limits estimated by the above epidemiological studies, typically more towards the higher end than the lower (Bailly, Beuscart, Collinet, & Alexandre, 1992 ;P. Cohen, Cohen, Kasen, & Velez, 1993 ;Monck, Graham, Richman, & Dobbs, 1994 ;Reinherz, Giaconia, Lefkowitz, & Pakiz, 1993), and this applies also to the control group in the present study.…”

Depression in pediatric patients before and 1 year after heart or heart-lung transplantation

“…1 Estimates of the prevalence of major depressive disorder suggest rates of Ͻ3% in school-aged children, 2 rising to between 3.6% and 6% in adolescents. [2][3][4] However, many more children and adolescents experience depressive symptoms that do not amount to diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, 1 and the inconsistent prevalence rates of depression reported for the general population have been attributed to variation in definitions and the measures utilized by different studies. 5 Research with chronically ill children indicates that such children are at a slightly increased risk for depressive symptoms but most are not clinically depressed.…”