Gender differences in adolescent depression: do symptoms differ for boys and girls?
BACKGROUND
Limited prior research suggests that depressed women are more likely to experience certain symptoms of depression than are depressed men. The purpose of this study was to examine whether such gender differences in depressive symptoms are present during adolescence.


METHODS
The Childhood Version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and the Beck Depression Inventory were administered to adolescents presenting for evaluation at an outpatient clinic (n=383; ages 11.9 to 20.0).


RESULTS
Depressed girls and boys had similar symptom prevalence and severity ratings for most depressive symptoms. However, depressed girls had more guilt, body image dissatisfaction, self-blame, self-disappointment, feelings of failure, concentration problems, difficulty working, sadness/depressed mood, sleep problems, fatigue, and health worries than depressed boys on some comparisons. In contrast, depressed boys had higher clinician ratings of anhedonia, depressed morning mood, and morning fatigue.


CONCLUSIONS
Longitudinal research is needed to test whether such relatively gender-specific symptoms play different roles in the onset, maintenance, or remittance of depression for boys and girls.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that, in general, the experience of depression is highly similar for adolescent girls and boys. However, some gender differences previously found among depressed adults appear to be present by adolescence, possibly suggesting somewhat distinct etiologies for depression among males and females.
Bennett
David S
DS
Drexel University College of Medicine, United States.
Ambrosini
Paul J
PJ
Kudes
Diana
D
Metz
Claudia
C
Rabinovich
Harris
H
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic