Screening and Predicting Adolescent Depressive Symptoms in Rural Settings

Adolescent depression was studied in 846 high-school students living in rural Pennsylvania. Each student filled out numerous self-report scales rating phenomena such as depression & life-events experienced. 13% of those surveyed had scores high enough to indicate depressive symptoms. Gender (i.e. being female), death in the family, & having trouble with others were all risk factors for depressive symptoms. Relationships bewteen depression & suicide are discussed. (39 refs.)