date: 11/2/2005
How common is depression in children?
Depression is common among children of all ages and especially among teenagers.
This article is an excerpt from our complete report on Depression in Children.
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We're not sure how many children and teenagers have depression. It could be anywhere between 2 and 6 in every 100.
The number of children with depression increases with age and rises sharply at puberty. Some studies have found as many as 8 in 100 teenagers are depressed.
Among children (up to the age of 12), as many boys as girls get depression. But by the time they are teenagers, depression affects twice as many girls as boys. We're not sure why this is, but it may be because the way girls think makes them more likely to get depression if something bad happens.
Or it may be that the changes in girls' hormones at puberty increase their risk of getting depressed.
Depression in children is more common in some family situations. Compared with children who don't have depression, children who do are:
Children are also showing signs of depression at a younger age. Most people who ever get it are probably depressed for the first time before the age of 20.
The number of children with depression increases with age and rises sharply at puberty. Some studies have found as many as 8 in 100 teenagers are depressed.
Among children (up to the age of 12), as many boys as girls get depression. But by the time they are teenagers, depression affects twice as many girls as boys. We're not sure why this is, but it may be because the way girls think makes them more likely to get depression if something bad happens.
Or it may be that the changes in girls' hormones at puberty increase their risk of getting depressed.Depression in children is more common in some family situations. Compared with children who don't have depression, children who do are:
- Nearly twice as likely to be living with only one parent
- More than twice as likely to have both parents out of work
- More likely to have parents who have low incomes and fewer qualifications.
- Hispanic teenaged boys have more symptoms of depression than white, African-American or Asian American teenaged boys.
- Latino children and teenagers are more likely to have depression than white children and teenagers.
In one study, 12 out of 100 Mexican American youths were depressed, compared with 6 out of 100 white youths.
- American Indian teenaged boys are more likely to commit suicide than any other group in the United States. From 1979 to 1992, 62 out of 100,000 American Indian teenaged boys killed themselves.
- More white teenaged boys try suicide than African-American teenaged boys.
In 1997, 16 out of 100,000 white boys this age tried suicide, compared with 11 out of 100,000 African-American boys this age. But the number of African-American boys trying suicide is going up, while the number of white boys is going down.
Children are also showing signs of depression at a younger age. Most people who ever get it are probably depressed for the first time before the age of 20.
Sources for the information on this page:
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The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. Goals, design, methods, and the prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders.
Archives of General Psychiatry. 1996;53(12):1129-1136.
Birmaher B, Ryan ND, Williamson DE, et al.
Childhood and adolescent depression: a review of the past 10 years.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 1996;35(12):1575-1583.
Hankin BL, Abramson LY.
Development of Gender difference in depression: An Elaborated cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory
Psychological Bulletin. 2001; 127: 773-796.
Burt VK, Stein K.
Epidemiology of depression throughout the female life cycle.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2002;63: 9-15.
National Institute of Mental Health
Depression in Children and Adolescents
Available at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/depchildmenu.cfm. Last accessed 27 July 2005.
Siegel JM, Aneshensel CS, Taub B.
Adolescent depressed mood in a multiethnic group
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Mental Health
Culture, race and ethnicity. A supplement to Mental Health: A report of the Surgeon General
US Department of Health and Human Services, 2001.
Mental Health
A report of the Surgeon General. Chapter 3 Depression and Suicide in Children and Adolescents
Available at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec5.html
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Depression
In "Recent advances in paediatrics 21" Ed David T. Royal Society of Medicine, London. 2004. pp 217-229.
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