title: Relationships between depressive symptoms and perceived social support, self-esteem, & optimism in a sample of rural adolescents.
abstract: Stress, developmental changes and social adjustment problems can be significant in rural teens. Screening for psychosocial problems by teachers and other school personnel is infrequent but can be a useful health promotion strategy. We used a cross-sectional survey descriptive design to examine the inter-relationships between depressive symptoms and perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism in a sample of rural school-based adolescents. Depressive symptoms were negatively correlated with peer social support, family social support, self-esteem, and optimism. Findings underscore the importance for teachers and other school staff to provide health education. Results can be used as the basis for education to improve optimism, self-esteem, social supports and, thus, depression symptoms of teens.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. webersjm@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Kathryn Rose
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Puskar
authors.forename: Dianxu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000451:nursing; D009042:Motivation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012424:Rural Population; D012649:Self Concept; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications