title: Depressive symptoms in Chinese children and adolescents: parent, teacher, and self reports.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tepper
authors.forename: Xianchen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuanqin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Tongzhou
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuanqi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: 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