Background: Depression in
adolescents often results in
suicide ,
school drop-out,
pregnancy ,
antisocial behavior , substance abuse, progressing in to
adult depression functional disability and significant impairment.
Depression in
adolescents is an under recognized
mental health problem.
Methods: Cross-sectional study by using simple
screening instrument Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI) among
school -going
adolescents in urban Rohtak (Haryana). All the
students of class 9th& 10th of 3
government schools were included. The data was collected on a predesigned, pre-tested, semi-structured,
schedule by
interview technique after obtaining
informed consent from the concerned
adolescents /principals of
schools .
Statistical analysis has been done with simple proportions and percentages using SPSS20.
Results: A total of 374
adolescents participated in the study. More than half of study subjects were found to have scores corresponding to some degree of
depression and nearly one in seven was suffering from moderate to severe
depression .
Conclusions: This study emphasizes the need for
screening for depressive
symptomatology and identifying
adolescents who need further intervention.