Somatic and Depressive Symptoms Among Children From Latin America and the English-Speaking Caribbean.

BACKGROUND: The extent to which depression is associated with somatic complaints in children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America is not well established. OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore the association between depressive and somatic symptoms among children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America, while accounting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, cultural background, and anxiety score. METHOD: 1541 elementary school children, ages 9-12 years, from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America completed the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ARDS), the Numeric 0-10 Anxiety Self-Report Scale and the Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory-24 (CSSI-24). T-tests and ANOVA's were used to compare CSSI-24 and ARDS scores among countries, and the CSSI-24 scores of children with (ARDS ≥ 4) and without likely clinically significant depression. Regression analyses assessed possible predictors of CSSI-24 score. RESULTS: Depressive and somatic symptom scores were highest among the Jamaican children and lowest among the Colombian children (p < .001). Children with likely clinically significant depression exhibited higher mean somatic symptom scores (p < .001). Depressive symptom scores predicted somatic symptom scores (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms were a strong predictor of reporting somatic symptoms. Knowledge of this association may facilitate better recognition of depression among youth.

A psycho-social analysis of depression, anxiety and student engagement: Effects of parenting practices.

The extent to which students' level of depressive and anxiety symptoms and student engagement were predicted by parental emotional support, monitoring and harsh parenting was investigated using a series of multiple regression analyses. Grade six students from public primary schools (n = 293; 49% females, 51% males; mean age = 10 years) in Barbados completed the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale, a Parenting Questionnaire and an adapted Student Engagement scale. Students' level of depressive symptoms were predicted by parental emotional support and harsh parenting, but not by parental monitoring. With the exception of harsh parenting, neither parental emotional support nor parental monitoring were significant predictors of the anxiety levels of students. Student engagement was predicted by all three types of parenting practices. Limitations, recommendations for future research and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Validation of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale in a Caribbean student sample.

BACKGROUND: Research on depression among Caribbean children has been limited by a lack of valid and reliable measures. We addressed this problem by exploring the internal consistency reliability and the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (KADS) among a wide cross-section of the student population attending elementary schools in Jamaica and Barbados. METHODS: Students enrolled in grade 6 in a cross-section of schools in Jamaica and Barbados were invited to participate in the study. Schools included a balance of government-funded public schools and privately funded preparatory schools. All schools that were invited to participate accepted, and all grade 6 classrooms in each school were sampled. The following instruments were administered to the students during the fall semester of 2015: KADS, Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS), major depression disorder subscale of the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), and state and trait anxiety visual analogue scales. RESULTS: In total, 759 children (376 girls [49.5%] and 363 boys [47.8%]; in 20 cases [2.6%], sex was missing) with a mean age of 10.7 (standard deviation 0.66) years (median 11.0 yr) took part in the study. Overall, the KADS had an acceptable degree of reliability (α = 0.76). The instrument had reasonably good concurrent validity, as evidenced by strong correlations with scores on the ADRS (r = 0.62) and the major depression disorder subscale of the RCADS (r = -0.61). It had acceptable discriminant validity, as shown through low correlations with the state and trait anxiety visual analogue scales (r = 0.21 and 0.18, respectively). This pattern of results suggests that a large part (37%) of the variance underlying the KADS assesses depression, and a smaller degree of the variance (3%-4%) measures a conceptually similar but distinct concept. INTERPRETATION: The KADS is a reliable and valid measure for assessing depressive symptoms among Jamaican and Barbadian elementary school students. The sample may not be representative of all Caribbean children.