Self-reported depression in younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents.
Younger (14- to 17-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers have been reported by Colletta (1983) as being more depressed than older (18- to 19-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers. To determine whether this finding applies to pregnant adolescents, the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; Beck & Steer, 1987) was administered to 175 (65.1%) Black, 64 (23.8%) Hispanic, and 30 (11.1%) White inner-city adolescents during their 28th week of pregnancy. The sample was divided into 129 (48.0%) younger (13- to 15-year-old) adolescents and 140 (52.0%) older (16- to 18-year-old) adolescents. The mean profiles of the 21 BDI symptoms were comparable for both age groups, and it was concluded that younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents describe similar levels of self-reported depression.
Steer
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Department of Psychiatry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Camden 08103-1505.
Scholl
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Beck
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D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D014505:Urban Population