Increasing factors of depression among school children aged 10-15 years

Abstract

Objective: Major depressive disorder is an escalating problem in both developed and under developed countries. Similar to the adolescents, depressive symptoms have been diagnosed at an extensive level among school going children. The study is based around investigating the increasing factors of depression among school going children of Jordan. Methods: A sample of 1650 school going students from Amman has been considered, which was assessed on behalf of two instruments. The age group of 10-15 years was identified for recruiting students from five government and five private schools. The collected data was analyzed through SPSS version 20. Results: Findings of the study reflected that depression in childhood is strongly associated with ecological factors and psychiatric co-morbidities. Furthermore, the results revealed that age, gender, living arrangements, and domestic violence are also associated with childhood depression. The results further identified that the prevalence rate of depression is higher in girls as compared to the boys. Conclusion: Depression can become more severe, if it is not managed at the early stage. Similarly, depression in childhood is likely to continue in adulthood if it is not properly treated at initial stages. Moreover, the rate of depression vary across the globe due to the different social and economic factors of each country.