Risk factors for depression in adolescence

Abstract

Public health concern regarding depression has recently increased as a result of the rise in the rate of adolescent suicide, with a probable concomitant rise in the rate of depression in this age group. The rise appears to be both a period effect, in that increased rates are now observed across age categories, and a cohort effect, in that being born after 1960 also contributes to the increase. The clinical phenomena and epidemiology of depression in adolescence are reviewed. Diagnostic criteria for depressive mood and depressive syndrome are similar to those in adults. However, the predictive value of a depressive episode in adolescence, and whether the occurrence of depression in adolescence is a transient developmental experience or whether it predicts a particular subtype of future depression, are at present unknown. The familial, social and personal risk factors for adolescent depression are reviewed, The major factors are: parental history of affective illness, childhood experience of parental loss, and female gender. Other factors, such as birth order and sibling factors, socio-economic status, race, religion, geography, concomitant medical illness, intelligence, career aspirations, substance abuse and life events, are reviewed, although their relative contributions as risk factors are less clear-cut. It is proposed that cross-sectional, retrospective and longitudinal studies are required to clarify important areas of uncertainty.