Depressive symptoms and the use of psychoactive substances by adolescents during life

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is amongst the most common psychiatric disorders during adolescence, being psychiatric comorbidities such as the abuse of psychoactive substances, frequently observed in depressive cases. Objective: Investigating the association between depressive symptoms and the use of psychoactive substances in adolescents, that is, private and public High School students in Porto Alegre-RS. Method: It is a cross-sectional study, using sample by convenience, of 706 school adolescents. The instruments used were a social and demographic information sheet, information on the use of psychoactive substances, and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: 28% of the participants presented depressive symptoms. The adolescents who used alcohol, tobacco, cocaine or other substances, presented more depressive symptoms than the ones who did not use them (t=2,248 p=0,025). Conclusion: It has been observed that the prevalence of depressive symptoms in this sample is high and similar to the ones found in other studies on adolescents. The knowledge of the presence of depressive symptoms and the association with the use of psychoactive substances may contribute for establishing programs focused on this group, in order to prevent such symptoms, along its three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary