Psycho-social factors associated with high depressive symptomatology in female adolescents and gender difference in adolescent depression: an epidemiological survey in China\u2019s Hubei Province

Wenzhe Sun,Yan Lan,Guo Li,Chenyan Zhang,Chensheng Pan,Yuxi Chen,Junhua Mei,Zhou Zhu,Xiuli Qiu,Jinfeng Miao,Xin Zhao,Yanyan Wang,Yi Xu

doi:10.1186/s12888-021-03165-7

Abstract

BackgroundExploring etiological clues to adolescent depression, especially in female adolescents, might be helpful to improve the social environment of female adolescents. The aim at this study is to explore psycho-social factors of female adolescents with high depressive symptomatology and gender differences in depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents.MethodWe examined 4100 adolescents from Wuhan city and Jianli county via a cross-sectional study. Depressive symptomatology was screened through the Chinese version of Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to explore the factors related to high depressive symptomatology in female and male adolescents, respectively.ResultsThe prevalence of high depressive symptomatology in female and male were 38.9 and 30.2% respectively. The psycho-social factors of high depressive symptomatology in female adolescents were age (Adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.201, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.076 ~ 1.341), single parent family (aOR = 2.004, 95%CI, 1.448 ~ 2.772) and fathers’ education level (compared to primary school and below, [Junior middle school, aOR = 0.641, 95%CI, 0.439 ~ 0.934; Senior middle school, aOR = 0.603, 95%CI, 0.410 ~ 0.888; College degree and above, aOR = 0.639, 95%CI, 0.437 ~ 0.936]).ConclusionFathers’ education level was associated with high depressive symptomatology in female adolescents. Female adolescents whose father with primary school education or below deserves more attention. Further epidemiologic researches need to be conducted to explore the different risk factors between female and male adolescents in China.

Highlights

For the past few years, depression have become a major public health problem worldwide [1]
The sociodemographic characteristics of China may play a prominent role in the occurrence of depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents, since adolescents are more vulnerable to the surrounding environment and the individual psychological factors [7,8,9,10]
After multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that age, female, single parent family and physical activity were independently associated with high depressive symptomatology

Summary

Introduction

For the past few years, depression have become a major public health problem worldwide [1]. The sociodemographic characteristics of China may play a prominent role in the occurrence of depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents, since adolescents are more vulnerable to the surrounding environment and the individual psychological factors [7,8,9,10]. Early marriage and procreation rate of women rise again, they dropped between 1990 and 2015 [13], which suggested that the educational inequities in female adolescents of China has recently exacerbated. Few researchers have explored the different sociodemographic related factors between female adolescents and male adolescents. The aim at this study is to explore psycho-social factors of female adolescents with high depressive symptomatology and gender differences in depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion