Study of depression in students from Mexico City and the state of Michoacan using the revised version of the CES-D

Abstract

Background. The prevalence of depression is increasing among adolescents. Depression is related to factors such as socioeconomic status, family history of problems with depression and alcohol use, experiences with violence, physical or sexual abuse and use of tobacco and illicit drugs. These may increase the risk of other problematic behaviors.

Objective. To describe the depressive symptoms in adolescents from Mexico City and the State of Michoacan.

Method. Data were generated with the revised version of the CES-D. Two cross-sectional studies with non-probabilistic samples were conducted (N=2127).

Results. A total of 12% of the adolescents had symptoms of a probable major depressive episode (MDE) (13.3% from Mexico City and 9.2% from Michoacan). The proportion of probable MDE was significantly higher among women (χ2 = 56.294, DF = 2, p <.001). The students from Mexico City had a significantly higher proportion of subjects with probable MDE than the ones from Michoacan (χ2 = 30.78, DF = 2, p <.001).

Discussion and conclusion. The proportion of students who had clinically significant symptoms underlines the need for information, awareness, training for parents, teachers, health professionals and adolescents for addressing the relevance for attending depression and to improve the access to health care services. Although the CESD-R may be a quick alternative for an early detection of a probable major depressive episode, it would be necessary to build a referral mechanism to mental health care services for individuals at risk, as well as strategies to ensure its quality.