Depressive symptoms in Chinese children and adolescents: parent, teacher, and self reports.
BACKGROUND
Most studies of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents have been conducted in Western countries. This study was designed to examine depressive symptoms and age and gender differences in children and adolescents in China.


METHODS
Participants consisted of two community samples of children and adolescents (n1=4858, n2=1362) in Shandong, China. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF) and Youth Self Report (YSR) were used to assess depressive symptoms.


RESULTS
Using American norms, the prevalence rates of depression in Chinese children and adolescents were 5.9% with self report, 0.9% with parent report, and 0.8% with teacher report. Self and teacher-reported depressive symptoms were significantly increased with age for both boys and girls. Compared with American norms, self-reported depressive scores were significantly higher in Chinese adolescents, while parent and teacher-reported scores were significantly lower in Chinese children.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study lacks clinical assessment of depressive symptoms and the study is comprised of two separate samples where parent and teacher reports and youth reports could not be compared directly.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of self-reported depressive symptoms in Chinese children and adolescents are much higher than those reported by either parents or teachers. Depressive symptoms are increased with age but do not differ between boys and girls.
Tepper
Ping
P
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Liu
Xianchen
X
Guo
Chuanqin
C
Zhai
Jing
J
Liu
Tongzhou
T
Li
Chuanqi
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013663:Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology