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Objectives To study the age and gender distribution of clinical and non-clinical depressive symptoms in chil-dren, and the potential link between non-clinical and clinical depressive symptoms. Methods 4520 children aged 8-15 years old were screened for mental disorders by Strength and Dififculties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Development and Well Being Assessment (DAWBA), and further assessed by the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSSC). Fifty-three children diagnosed as depressive disorder were included in clinical group and 1504 children without depression disorders whose DSSC scores≥14 were included in non-clinical group. The relationship between gender, age and DSSC scores was analyzed. Results Interaction effect on DSSC scores between gender and age was found in clinical group (F=4.40, P=0.049), but not found in non-clinical group (F=1.04, P=0.409). DSSC scores of girls were higher than that of boys in clinical group (t=2.16, P=0.048). There was no statistically signiifcant main effect of gender in non-clinical group (F=0.21, P=0.646). No signiifcant difference in DSSC scores existed among different age groups in clinical group (F=0.82, P=0.573). There was signiifcant main effect of age in non-clinical group (F=1.96, P=0.048). Conclusions There were different age and gender distribution of clinical and non-clinical depressive symptoms in children.
RESUMEN
Objective To investigate domestic child abuse within one year before the survey being conducted in Grades 4-6 preliminary school students and explore the relationship between domestic child abuse and mental health problems including prevalence of mental disorders,anxiety,depression as well as children's selfawareness in this sample.Methods Screen Questionnaire of Child Abuse was used to screen all the students participated in the survey.For those students whose screen results were positive,further face to face interview was needed to verify the abuse history.Once a child was identified as abused one,a student without abuse history would be matched by sex and the same age.Both groups with abused history and without abuse history over past year were evaluated by the two child psychiatrists with diagnostic an statistical manual of mental disorder (DSM-Ⅳ) and mental health scales.Results 1500 10-13 year-old children received child abuse screening.23.73％ students surveyed over the past year suffered child abuse in the family.The proportion of boys who were victims of domestic child abuse was 30.44％ while 17.44％ to girls (x2 =5.95,P ＜ 0.01).The proportion of male students who were victims of domestic abuse was two times that of female students.For all participants,14.6％ had been suffered one-way abuse,5％ for two-way abuse,and 3％ for three-way abuse.Prevalence of anxiety disorder in abused students was higher than in non-abused ones (9.26％ vs 3.45％,x2 =3.19,P=0.0015).Similarly,the rate of disruptive behavior disorder in abused students was higher than in non-abused ones(18.53％vs 9.22％ x2 =3.61,P=0.0001).The total scores of The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder was higher in abused students group than in non-abused students group while the total scores of Piers-Harris Children's self-concept Scale was lower in abused student group than in non-abused student group.Conclusion Domestic child abuse in 10-13 old-age students is a widespread phenomenon and abuse history over last year is associated with current mental health level.